f 



A GALLOP 



AMERICAN SCENERY: 



OR, 



SKETCHES 



American Scenes and Military Adventure 



AUGUSTUS E. SILLIMAN. 




NEW YORK: 

A. S. BARNES & CO., m & 113 William Street. 
1881. 



TO 



BENJAMIN D. SILLIMAN, 



LITTLE VOLUME 



AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, 



HIS BROTHER 



Y 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Banks of the Potomac, ....... i 

The Country Pastor 7 

Mount Vernon, ......... 12 

The Medical Student, 22 

The Resurrectionists, ....... 34 

Old Kennedy, the Quartermaster, I, . . . 44 

Old Kennedy, the Quartermaster, II, . . . . 51 

Old Kennedy, THE Quartermaster, III, ... 56 

Old Kennedy, THE Quartermaster, IV, .... 64 

The Partisan Legion, 73 

Hudson River, 99 

Night Attack on Fort Erie, ..... 104 

Battle OF Lunoy's Lane, . . . . . 112 

Lake George and Ticonderoga, . . . • . . 122 

Montreal, 130 

The Nun, 134 

Cataracts of Niagara, ....... 137 

Mount Holyoke, ........ 143 

White Mountains, 147 

Bass Fishing off Newport, ...... 155 

Brenion's Reef, ........ 161 

Old Trinity Steeple, ....... 168 



Vi CONTENTS 

PAGE. 

Old SciPio, . . i8i 

The Pequot, 1^7 

Captain Kidd, . . . 191 

Spiritiana : 

No. I. — Hydrachos rgS 

No. II. — Winter, 216 

A Peep Over the Blue Ridge, 220 

The Dead Man's Sermon, 231 

A Trip Through Long Island Sound : 

No. I.— Hell Gate, 249 

No. II. — Burning of Fairfield and Danbury, . 255 

No. III. — Night Alarm, 261 

No. IV.— "The Boys," 265 

No. V. — The Unfortunate Lover, . . . 271 

No. VI. — Adventure on the Mississippi, . . 273 

No. VII. — New London and Stonington, . . 279 

The Blind Officer, 283 

Green v^^ooD Cemetery, 293 

Appendix, 305 




PREFACE 



HE larger part of this voluvic [iiozv long out of print) 
was published inany years since. The variojis 
sketches of zvhieh it is composed ivere zvritten for 
recreation, amid the cares of business ; reviving, as they did, 
recollections of attractive scenery and passages of military and 
fiaval history, the latter made specially interesting to the ivritcr 
by oral tiarratives of persons t house Ives engaged in them. 

When the book was zvritten, we had little of military 
history except that of the Revolution, and the events of "^ the 
War of 1812 " zvere cherished with deep regard by the public ; 
but since then, the smoke and carnage of the Mexican War, 
and the gigantic horrors of the co)ifliet with the South, have 
throiun them almost entirely in the shade. 

It is hardly necessary to say that most of the dramatis 
personcc which figure in these sketches are ideals, improvised 
for the purpose of telling their various stories, nor that in a 
work so tinged by the imagination a degree of poetic license is 
taken to give continuity to the narration. 

To occupy some idle hours, the ivriter has prepared this 
edition; adding to it a number of chapters not contained in 
the first. 

June, 1881. 



BANKS OF THE POTOMAC. 




UMBER State Street.* Storm without. 

Apa7'tmcHt, strewed with sundry bachelor appur- 
tenances, fronting on the Battery ; a gentleman 
in dressing-gown and slippers, measuring the room 
XS'^ ivith hasty strides, exclaims impatiently : 
Northeast, by the flags of the sJiipping in the bay ! Northeast, 
by the chill rain dashing on the window panes I Northeast, by 
the weather-cocks on all the steeples, from St. Paul's to the dog- 
vane on the stable end ! NORTHEAST, by the ache of every bone 
in my body I Eheu I What's to be done ? No going abroad in 
this torrent. Fve read all the landlady's little library. How shall 
I kill tJie enemy ? I'll zvhistle ; vulgar. Sing;Icattt. There 
are the foils and the gloves. Pshazv ! I have no friend to pom- 
mel or pink ; besides, the old lady in the room beloiv has nerves. 
Whew! hozv it pours! I'll — I'll — stand and look out into the 
street. Jupiter ! hozv near the bread-cart came to going over the 
chimney-sweep. Poor Sooty — Jww lie grins ! He ozves the worm 
no silk, whatever obligations his rags may be under to the sheep. 
Poor fellozv ! Halloa! ho! black cy ; catch this quarter, and 
get you a hot breakfast. There goes that confounded battery 
gate again ! bang ! bang ! night and day. 

Alas ! me miserable. What shall I do ? The spirit of ennui 
rides me as thoroughly as did the " old man of the sea," Sinbadthe 

*0n this street, at that time, were the residences of the elite of the city. 



2 BANKS OF THE POTOMAC 

sailor. Eh ! there are the duvib-bells : di7ninisli nervous excit- 
ability by muscular exertion. Good! — liumph ; and there are the 
old ladys nerves beloiv. Hoiv the wind roars and rumbles round 
the chimney-tops. Rain, rain, rain! The tin spout is choked, 
and the gutter is pouring over, a young cataract. Oh I that I 
were a whale, or the sea-serpent, chasing the down-east fishermen 
— in short, anything, so that I need not mind the wet. Hum — 
hum — ivhat shall I do f I have it. Eureka I I have it. I'll sit 

doivii and give my friend an account of my last 

ramble. 

{Rolleth his chair up to the table at the fire, crosscth his legs 
on the fender, and proceeds to nib his peti.) Now for it {Writes). 

You well recollect, my dear , the argu- 
ments I used, to induce you to make a short journey 
to the South with me last summer; and your answer: 
" I can't leave my business." You well recollect 
that I urged that we were not born to work, alone ; that 
life was short ; that, sixteen or sixty, its term was but a flash ; 
that we were rushing on with increased velocity to that 
bourne, whose sands are marked by no returning foot-print ; 
that bourne, where the sceptre and diadem of the monarch 
lie contemptuously hurled, with the goad and chain of the 
slave ; where, their service ended, the broken wain of the 
yeoman, and the grim cannon of the soldier, interlock their 
shattered wheels ; the bayonet and pruning-hook, the sword 
and the ploughshare, rest without a name. You well recol- 
lect that I reproached you, the rather, with too great love 
for the green fields and giant elms around your rustic cot- 
tage ; that I swore by my faith — an' I believed in the doc- 
trine of Pythagoras — that I should look to see thy immortal 



BANKS OF THE POTOMAC 3 

part transferred, on its exit from its present habitation, to one 
of those huge trees towering into the blue ether; that there, 
in the sunny mornings of summer, for sonnets which do en- 
liven thy library, I should hear the joyous call of the robin, 
the shrill whistle of the scarlet oriole ; for sparkling wit, the 
dew of night glittering on thy leaves in the early sunbeams ; 
for wise old saws and dreamy legends, venerable moss gath- 
ering upon thy trunk and branches; while, alike in the even- 
ing wind or howling blast, thou shouldest stand firm against 
casuistry or dictation. "Wilt go?" "Wilt join me?" — 
with soft persuasion murmured I. " My business,'' quoth 
thou. " Presto," quoth I ; and without more ado started in 
my usual heels-over-head fashion alone on my journey. 

I swept over the broad breast of the Delaware ; dashed 
down the enemy-insulted Chesapeake; bounded through 
the city of riots and beauty, and came down on my 

feet at the cottage of my whole-souled friend, Tom B , 

on the banks of the Potomac. The afternoon of my arrival 
was warm and still, and everything in nature, even the birds, 
seemed wrapped in indolent repose. Slowly sauntering 
through the long vistas of sycamores and elms which adorn- 
ed the grounds in picturesque avenues, the airy East Indian 
cottage of my friend suddenly broke upon my sight, peer- 
ing from a whole load of flowering vines and sweet-briers, 
tall white lilies and moss roses, from thick beds of myrtle at 
their feet, climbing into the half-open lattices, while two tow- 
ering pines almost crossed their extended branches above its 
lowly roof. I stole quietly through the open door, examin. 
ing the choice Italian landscapes hanging upon the walls of 
the airy grass-matted hall ; slid through the drawing-rooms, 
stopping for a moment to scan the crouching Venus and dy- 



4 BANKS OF THE POTOMAC 

ing Gladiator on their pedestals, to admire the exquisite 
Magdalen of Carlo Dolce, the lovely Claude, the Cenci, and 
Flora, beneath their silken tassels ; and, coming out upon the 
verandah overlooking the river, suspended in his grass ham- 
mock, found master Tom enjoying his luxurious siesta. His 
double-barrelled gun, and game-bag, shooting-jacket, huge 
sombrero and hunting-boots, were tumbled into one corner of 
the piazza, while a dozen fine plover, turning up their plump 
breasts, a partridge, and a score of yellow-legged snipe, with 
the powder-flask and shot-belt, were thrown across the back 
of the rustic settee, trophies of his morning's sport, beneath 
which, with their noses extended between tjieir legs in like 
luxurious repose, lay the huge old Newfoundlander, " Ber- 
nard," and his favorite pointer, " Soho." 

The mild breeze bore in the sweet perfume of the honey- 
suckle from a neighboring arbor, and the broad Potomac, 
stretched tranquilly onwards, undisturbed save by the occa- 
sional jibe of the boom or lazy creak of the rudder of some 
craft, reflected with her white sails upon its surface. The 
garden, with its white-gravelled walks, bordered with box, 
descended in parterres to the river's edge — an embroidered 
carpet of flowers ; and lemon and orange trees, released 
from their winter's confinement, displayed their golden fruit, 
hanging amid the green leaves in tempting profusion. I 
bent over and looked into the hammock, and could not but 
admire the serenity of the manly features, the measured 
heave of the broad chest, and the masses of raven locks 
playing around the white forehead of the sleeper, as they 
were slowly lifted by the play of the passing wind. 1 
thought it were a sin to disturb him, so, drawing out my ci- 
gar case, I stretched myself on the settee at his side, com- 



BANKS OF THE POTOMAC 5 

placently reclining my head upon its arm. Whiles watching 
the blue smoke of my " cigar," as it slowly wreathed and 
floated above my head, whiles watching the still dreamy 
flow of the river, and whiles — if I must confess it — cogitat- 
ing which had been the wisest, myself the bachelor or Tom 
the married man, Tom, myself, the dogs, forming a toler- 
ably correct picture of still life, a still life that remained un- 
broken for some half hour, when through the glass doors of 
the drawing-room a beautiful boy of three or four years 
came galloping into the piazza, and bounding towards the 
dogs threw himself full length upon the shaggy Newfound- 
lander, manfully striving to pull open his huge jaws with 
his little hands. The Newfoundlander, opening his eyes, 
saw me, and raising himself on his legs gave a low growl, 
while the child, relinquishing his hold upon the ears to 
which he had clung as the dog arose to his feet, came 
slowly up to me, and placing his plump little hands upon 
my knee, looked curiously and inquiringly into my face, his 
golden locks falling in a profusion of ringlets down his su- 
perb sunburnt shoulders. I was charmed with the confi- 
dence, and innocence, and sweetness beaming from his gaze, 
and took him upon my knee, his hand playing with m}^ 
watch-guard, while his beautiful blue eyes remained fixed in 
the same look of curious inquiry on mine. I said it was a 
picture of still life. Tom, aroused by the dog, slowly lifted 
his head over the edge of the hammock, rubbed his eyes as 
if uncertain whether he were in a dream, as I calmly and 
silently returned his astonished gaze, and then, with a 
single swing, was at my side, both of my hands clasped in 
his. The next moment, I fancy, the picture was other than 
still life. 



6 BANKS OF THE POTOMAC 

Why should I tell you of the tea-table, loaded with del- 
icacies in the matted hall, as the soft evening sunset poured 
its last rays through it; of the symmetrical figure clad in 
snowy whiteness ; the Grecian features ; the dark, Andalu- 
sian eyes, beaming with kindness from behind the glittering 
silver at its head? Why, that the youngster, tied by the 
handkerchief in the high chair at his mother's side, pertin- 
aciously kicked his tiny red shoes about him in frolic glee, 
while my little knight of the golden locks did the duty of 
the trencher at his father's elbow? Why, that as the shades 
of evening faded into twilight, the young gentry were snugly 
ensconced in their little bed, the mother's soft cheek pressed 
against the forehead of the eldest as he lisped his evening 
prayer? And why, as soon — " like twin roses on one stalk" — 
as they were wrapped in innocent slumber, we sat in the 
fading twilight, talking over old scenes and boyish recollec- 
tions, retracing our steps back to those days which, softened 
by the lapse of time, appear divested of everything save 
brightness and sunshine ? Why, but to tell you that we were 
aroused from those retrospections by the sound of the 
church-going bell, musically chiming in the distance. 



THE COUNTRY PASTOR. 



THE slow tolling — now almost dying away, and now 
striking more strongly upon the ear — arose from the 
church in the neighboring village, where my friends 
were in the habit of worshipping, and where they were to 
have the opportunity on that evening of hearing the voice 
of their time-honored pastor — an opportunity which his 
great age and increasing infirmities had made equally rare 
and valuable. I gladly accepted the invitation to join them, 
as, aside from a desire to see the aged man, of whom I had 
so often heard, if there is a time for devotion more conso- 
nant to my feelings than another, it is when the quietness and 
serenity of a summer's evening dispel all external impres- 
sions, and everything appears in unison with harmony and 
benevolence. 

As we walked the short half mile between the cottage 
and the church, the stars shone in beauty amid the still rosy 
tints of the west ; the night-hawk stooped towards us, as he 
wheeled in his airy circles ; the whip-poor-will in the adjoin- 
ing meadows sounded his mournful note, and the crickets, 
with the chirping frogs in the neighboring ponds, sustained 
a ceaseless chorus. Arrived at the churchyard, we picked 
our way among the old brown tombstones, their quaint de- 
vices contrasted here and there with others of more mod- 
ern pretensions in white marble, and entering the church 
took our seats in silence. We were early ; but, as the 



8 THE COUNTRY PASTOR 

church gradually filled, it was interesting to watch group 
after group, as it noiselessly measured the aisles, and sunk 
quietly upon the cushioned seats. Now and then a pair of 
bright eyes would glance curiously around from beneath a 
gay bonnet, and a stray tress be thrown hastily aside ; but, 
alas ! those clad in the habiliments of woe, too, too often 







moved, phantom-like, to their places ; the lights, as they 
threw a momentary glare on their pale and care-worn faces, 
making more dark the badges which affection has assumed 
as a tame index of inward grief. The slow toll of the bell 
ceased ; the silence became more deep ; an occasional 
cough, the rustling of a dress, the turn of a leaf, alone 
breaking the perfect stillness. 

The low tones of the organ rose gently and sweetly, and 



THE COUNTRY PASTOR g 

the voluntar)' floated softly and mist-like over the assembly, 
rising, falling- and undulating, with like dreamy harmony, 
as if the ^olian harp were answering, with the passing airs 
playing among its strings, the ocean laving his pebbly 
shores, till, gradually rising and increasing in depth, it 
grandly and solemnly ascended upwards, thrown back, re- 
verberated from the walls of the circular dome above us, in 
deep and distant thunders. All became again silent. The 
venerable form of a man of four-score years, his hair 
bleached with the sorrows of eighty winters, rose slowly in 
the pulpit ; and as, with eyes closed, yet lifted to Heaven, 
he feebly supported himself with outstretched arms upon its 
cushion, we heard, almost in a whisper : " Let us pray, my 
brethren," fall tremulously from his lips. Nought but the 
perfect stillness enabled us at first to hear the sentences, 
pronounced with evident and painful effort ; but, as 
he advanced in prayer, that almost whisper became 
firm and distinct, and his pallid cheek lighted up with 
a hectic flush, as he waxed eloquent in the presence of his 
jNIaker. 

His venerable features appeared to glow almost with 
inspiration, and the hearts of the mourners beat more 
calmly, as they felt themselves carried into the Divine 
presence. More thoughtless than the swallow that skims 
the summer skies must he have been, who could have heard 
that prayer, and not have joined with reverence in its 
solemnit}'. His closing words still ring upon my ear, and 
long will remain stamped upon my memory. 

"My children: your fathers, and your fathers' fathers, 
have listened to my voice. Generations have passed by me 
to their long account, and still I have been left, and still my 



lO THE COUNTRY PASTOR 

voice hath arisen from this holy place. Woe! woe is me, 
if my Master hath looked upon me as a slack and unworthy 
servant to his people. But a few short days, and this trem- 
bling voice, that still strives to teach his blessed will, shall 
be hushed, this tottering- form be laid beneath the mould 
from whence it came ; but, with the last tones of this quiv- 
ering voice, the last grasp of these trembling hands, 1 ex- 
tend to you this sacred volume, as your guide to happiness 
in this, your surest light into the world to come. 

"The sneers of human reason and vain philosophy will de- 
sert you assuredly, my children, as you stand upon the edge 
of that awful precipice, where each of you alone must take 
the fated plunge into the deep darkness of the future ; but 
this shall make clear your passage as brightest noon-day. 
My children : — I look back upon you as I speak ; my hand is 
on the door-latch ; my foot upon the threshold — oh ! when 
your short days, like mine, are numbered, may you, with the 
same reliance in his mercy, say Amen ! " 

As the service ended, it was good to see the kind-hearted 
feeling with which the congregation gathered around the 
venerable man, for he was pure, and sincere, and true ; and 
of a verity, as he said, his voice had arisen among them 
above the infant's wail, at the baptismal font ; had joined 
them with cheerfulness at the marriage feast ; and still been 
heard in solemn sympathy at the side of the dark and silent 
grave. It was the last time that he addressed them. Not 
many days, and another voice pronounced the burial service 
of the dead in that green churchyard, and the form of the 
good old man was covered from their sight beneath 
its sod. 

As we returned to our cottage home, the crescent moon 



THE CO UN TR V PA S TOR I I 

was streaming in silvery brightness, the constellations and 
galaxy resplendent with '* living fires," and the far, far 
worlds, rolling in immeasurable distance, as twinkling stars, 
trembled upon our human vision. The dews of night were 
moist upon the grass, as we remeasured the lawn that led to 
the cottage, where, after planning our visit for the following 
morning to Mount Vernon, we soon were wrapped in con- 
tented and grateful repose. 



MOUNT VERNON. 



THE sun raised himself in a huge globe of fire above 
the eastern horizon, as my friend's spirited bays stood 
saddled at the door of the cottage, pawing, champing 
the bit, and playfully endeavoring to bite the black boy who 
held them. Finishing an early breakfast, we were soon in 
our saddles and full gallop on our journey ; the dogs in an 
ecstacy of delight, bounding along at our sides, overhauling 
and putting in bodily terror every unfortunate cur that came 
in their way, as they sportively tumbled him over, old Ber- 
nard, with glistening eyes and wagging tail, bestriding in 
grim fun the prostrate form of the enemy. We passed rap- 
idly through the rough-paved streets of Alexandria, watch- 
ing eagerly for its famed beauties at their casements, and 
clearing the town were soon on the rustic road that leads 
to the sacred place of America. 

The meadows were glistening in the morning dew ; the 
sweet perfume of the clover filled the air ; the white daisy 
and delicate cowslip danced over their luxuriant grassy beds, 
as the fresh morning breeze fanned them in its passage ; and 
amid the sea of melody, high above the merry gossip of the 
bob-link, the chattering volubility of the mocking-bird, his 
yellow-spotted breast swelling with delight, his keen eye 
gazing into the distance, the saucy '' you-can t-see-me' of the 
meadow lark sounded in merry challenge ; while the clear 
"whistle" of the quail from the golden wheat-field was 



MOUNT VERNON 



13 



echoed by his eager companion far down in the green vales, 
as they stretched softly and gently into the distance, in the 
long shadows of the early morning. Oh! let him that would 
scan the benevolence of the Creator, leave his restless bed 
in the sweltering city, and walk forth with the day in its 
youth; for verily, like man, it hath its youth, its manhood 




MOUNT VERNON. 



and its old age, and the sweetness of morning is the youth 
of the day. 

The hedges on the road-side were covered with a tangled 
mass of verdure, from which wild vines and green ivy crept 
to the surrounding trees, wreathing gracefully their trunks 
and branches; the undergrowth loaded with wild roses and 
honey -suckles. The graceful Heur-de-lis, curving its blue 



14 MOUNT VERNON 

flowers, trembled upon the green banks, and the pond-lily, 
floating on its watery bed, threw forth its grateful fragrance, 
as we occasionally passed through the swampy bottoms. 
Fat cattle grazed indolently in the meadows, while now and 
then, as we cantered by their pastures, the horses, with tails 
and manes erect, accompanied us on our journey, till, arriv- 
ing at their confines, with eager neighing they would look 
after us, throw their heels high in the air, and gallop down 
into the broad fields in the very jollity of freedom. Every- 
thing seemed contented and joyous. The hearty, happy- 
looking negroes, trudging along to their agricultural labors, 
doffed their hats to us with a cheerful " good morning," as 
we passed, or laughingly displayed their white teeth and 
big eyes, as they led the dew-wet horse to the bars, to mount, 
and drive to the milking, the smooth, fat kine. A ride of 
an hour brought us to the woods that adjoin Mount Vernon, 
which are cleared of undergrowth, but in other respects as 
wild and untamed as if naught but the savage had ever 
placed foot in them. Silence reigned through the deep 
glades, unbroken, save by the hoofs of our horses as they 
resounded with hollow echo, the sharp chirp of the squir- 
rel, jumping among the dry leaves, or the quick rap-rap of 
the wood-pecker, as his scarlet head and blue back glanced 
momentarily from some dead trunk upon our eyesight. We 
met with nothing to intercept our progress. Now and then, 
to be sure, a drove of hogs, feeding upon the mast in the 
forest, would marshal themselves in our path, stupidly star- 
ing at us with a sort of ludicrous, half-drunken gravity, 
snuffing the air as if determined to intercept our progress ; 
but as we came nearer they would whirl short about, and 
with a simultaneous grunt, their tails twisted in the air, gal- 



MOUNT VERNON I 5 

lop off with desperate precipitation into the depths of the 
forest. Journeying a mile or two farther, we came upon 
the porter's lodges at the entrance of the domain proper, 
which were old and ruinous. Proceeding still farther, over a 
very bad and rough carriage-road, we came suddenly in 
view of the Potomac; and Mount Vernon, with its mansion- 
house and smooth, green lawn, lay extended before us, Fort 
Washing-ton's battlements and cannon-filled embrasures in 
Stern silence guarding it from the opposite side of the river. 
Fastening our horses, under the guidance of a grey-head- 
ed old negro, born in the family of General Washington, we 
entered the lawn and came upon the rear-front, if the term 
may be allowed, of an old-fashioned mansion, surmounted 
by a cupola and weather-cock, semi-circular piazzas extend- 
ing around from each end, connecting it with the kitchen 
and servants' apartments. Various buildings, all bearing the 
impress of time, were scattered about, evidently in archi- 
tectural order and plan, and the two large gardens, rendered 
interesting by the flowers and plants still blooming in the 
beds where they had been placed by the hands of the Gen- 
eral, extended back to the forest from which we had just 
emerged. As we stood for a moment looking at the old 
building, we almost expected to see the yellow travelling 
carriage of his "Excellency," with its four beautiful bays and 
liveried out-riders, draw up at the great hall door in its cen- 
tre. Having sent in our address, we received permission to 
enter and survey the interior. We were struck with its ex- 
treme simplicity, the lowness of the walls and ceilings, and 
the bare floors, which were waxed — not, as with us, carpet- 
ed. The sides of the rooms were composed exclusively of 
wooden panels, upon which hung some old oil paintings. 



1 6 MOUNT VERNON 

engravings of naval actions between the English, the Dutch, 
and the French ; and a small enamel miniature,* which is 
considered the best likeness extant of Washington. Curi- 
osities of various kinds covered the shelves and the mantels, 
and the painted porcelains and china jars stood in stately dis- 
play behind the glass doors of the old-fashioned beaufets in 
the corners. 

Our attention was arrested for a moment, as we passed 
through one of the rooms, by a large rusty key of iron 
enclosed in a glass case. It was the key of the Bastile, that 
monument of centuries of grinding cruelty and oppression, 
where men vanished and were seen no more of their day 
and generation ; where, by the intrigues of the courtier, the 
subtle blandishments of the minion of the palace, letters de 
cachet plunged equally the innocent, the imprudent and the 
generous, into the jaws of living death ; that congerie of 
dungeons where, from mid-fellowship of rats and spiders, 
such scrap of soiled paper, written in the blood of the poor 
prisoner, fluttering from a loop-hole in its lofty towers, 
arrested the footstep of the casual passenger upon the cause- 
way : 

" Masses de Latude, tJiirty-tivo years prisoner in the Bas- 
tile, implores good Christians to intercede for him, that he 
may once more embrace his poor old father and mother, if 
they yet live, and die in the open world." 

One side of the great drawing-room was ornamented 
with a sculptured mantel in Italian marble, presented by 
Lafayette; the other was covered with cases containing 
books, while from the third, its green silk curtain drawn 
aside, was suspended a portrait of the then family, by Chap- 
* Cut out from a common China pitcher. 



MOUNT VERNON jy 

man. The figures of the portrait, as large as life, presented 
a lady of middle age, clad in mourning, surrounded b}'^ a 
group of children advancing into youth. It was well exe- 
cuted, and in the dignified and saddened serenity, in the 
simple and natural grouping, and the pure and unaffected 
expression of the countenances, an American in any part of 
the world would have at once recognized a family group of 
the more intellectual and refined of his own country. As 
we walked through the various rooms, from which the fam- 
ily had withdrawn, we were so overcome with the illusion — 
the work-basket with its scissors and thread, the half-opened 
book lying upon the table, the large Bible prominently, not 
ostentatiously, in its place, the portraits on the walls, the 
busts on their pedestals, all causing such a vivid impression 
of present life and being — that we almost expected to see 
the towering form of the General entering the doorway, 
or passing over the green lawn spread between us and that 
Potomac which he had so often viewed from the same win- 
dows. We were at first disappointed at not seeing in some 
conspicuous place his sword, but our disappointment van- 
ished as we were referred to and read this clause in his 
last testament : 

" To each of my four nephews I bequeath one of the 
swords of which I may die possessed. These swords are 
accompanied with the injunction not to unsheath them for 
the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defence, 
or in defence of their country and its rights ; and, in the 
latter case, to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with 
them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof." 

Passing through the great hall, ornamented with pictures 
of English hunting scenes, we ascended the oaken stair- 



1 8 MOUNT VERNON 

case, with its carved and antique balustrade ; we stood at 
the door — we pressed the handle — the room and the bed 
where he died were before us. Nothing in the lofty drama 
of his existence surpassed the grandeur of that final scene. 
The cold which he had taken from exposure, in overseeing 
some part of his grounds, and which resisted the earlier do- 
mestic remedies that were applied, advanced in the course 
of two short days into that frightful form of the disease of 
the throat, laryngitis. It became necessary for him to take 
to his bed. His valued friend. Dr. Craik, was instantly 
summoned, and, assisted by the best medical skill of the sur- 
rounding country, exhausted all the means of his art, but 
without affording him relief. He patiently submitted, 
though in great distress, to the various remedies proposed ; 
but it became evident, from the deep gloom settling upon 
the countenances of the medical gentlemen, that the case 
was hopeless ; advancing insidiously, the disease had fast- 
ened itself with deadly certainty. Looking with perfect 
calmness upon the sobbing group around him, he said : 
" Grieve not, my friends. It is as I anticipated from the 
first ; the debt which we all owe is now about to be paid. 
I am resigned to the event." Requesting Mrs. Washington 
to bring him two wills from his escritoire, he directed one to 
be burnt, and placed the other in her hands, as his last testa- 
ment, and then gave some final instructions to Mr. Lear, his 
secretary and relative, as to the adjustment of his business 
affairs. He soon after became greatly distressed, and as, 
in the paroxysms which became more frequent and violent, 
Mr. Lear, who was by his side, assisted him to turn, he, 
with kindness, but difficulty, articulated, " I fear I give you 
great trouble, sir ; — but perhaps it is a duty that we all owe, 



MOUNT VERNON 



19 



one to another. I trust — that you may receive the same 
attention — when you shall require it." 

As the night waned, the fatal symptoms became more im- 
minent, his breath more labored and suffocating, and his 
voice soon after failed him. Perceiving his end approach- 
ing, he straightened himself to his full length, folded his 
own hands in the necessary attitude upon his chest, placing 
his linger upon the pulse of the left wrist, and thus calmly 
prepared, and watching his own dissolution, awaited the 
summons of his Maker. The last faint hopes of his fi-iends 
had disappeared. Mrs. Washington, stupefied with grief, 
sat at the foot of the bed, her eyes fixed steadfastly upon 
him ; Dr. Craik, in deep gloom, stood with his face buried 
in his hands at the fire ; his faithful black servant, Christo- 
pher, the tears, uncontrolled, trickling down his face, on 
one side, took the last look of his dying master ; while Mr. 
Lear, in speechless grief, with folded hands, bent over his 
pillow on the other. 

Nought broke the stillness of his last moments but the 
suppressed sobs of the affectionate servants collected on the 
stair-case, the tick of the large clock in the hall, as it meas- 
ured off, with painful distinctness, the last fleeting moments 
of his existence, and the low moan of the winter wind, as it 
swept through the leafless, snow-covered trees. The labor- 
ing and wearied spirit drew nearer and nearer to its goal ; 
the blood languidly coursed slower and more slowly 
through its channels — the noble heart stopped — struggled — 
stopped — fluttered — the right hand slowly slid from the wrist 
upon which its finger had been placed — it fell at the side — 
and the manly effigy of Washington was all that remained, 
extended upon the death-couch. 



20 MOUNT VERNON 

We left that room as those who leave a sick room ; a sup- 
pressed whisper alone escaped us, as, with a sort of instinc- 
tive silence and awe, we drew the door slowly and firmly to 
its place behind us. We again descended the antique stair- 
case and emerged upon the lawn in front of the mansion. 
Passing through several coppices of trees, we approached 
the sepulchre where rest his remains. In the open arch of a 
vault composed of brick, secured and firmly protected by 
gates of open iron-work, were two large sarcophagi of white 
marble, in one of which, carved in high relief with the arms 
of the republic, were deposited the remains of him " who 
was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his 
countrymen." A marble slab, set into the brick wall of the 
exterior, bearing in black letters simply this inscription : 

" The remains of 
Gen'l George Washington." 

There rested all that was mortal of the man whose jus- 
tice, virtue and patriotism meet with few parallels in his- 
tory. There, within the smoke of his own hearth-stone, 
mouldered the remains of that towering form, whose spirit, 
whether in the battle or in the council-hall, in the fierce 
dissensions of public discord or in the quiet relations of 
social life, shone with stern and spotless purity. 

The Potomac glittered like silver, between the trees, in 
the noonday sun, at our feet; the soft mild breeze gently 
moved the leaves upon the tree-tops ; the chirp of the wren, 
the drowsy hum of the locust, the quick note of the thrush, 
as she hopped from twig to twig, wereall that showed signs 
of life ; and those huge sarcophagi lay still, motionless, far, 
far from voiceless. 



MOUNT VERNON 21 

We were struck with the truthfuhiess of the " Sweet 
Swan of Avon," as we saw above the sarcophagi (free pas- 
sage to which was open over the large iron gates) the clay- 
ey nest of the martin, or common house-swallow, built in 
the corner of the ceiling, where, in perfect security and 
confidence, she fed her chirping brood, directly over the 
head of the departed hero. Pure, indeed, was the air; 
" nimbly and sweetly " did it play upon our senses. Oh ! 
bard of England, as, standing upon that hallowed spot, the 
spirit of the unfortunate Banquo whispered again to our 
memories his words to the murdered Duncan : 

" This guest of summer, 



The temple-haunting martlet, does approve. 
By his lov'd raansionry, that the heavens' breath, 
Smells wooingly here : no jutty, frieze, buttress. 
Nor coigne of vantage, but this bird hath made 
His pendent bed, and procreant cradle : Where they 
Most breed and haunt, I have observed, the air 
Is delicate." 

We lingered at the tomb, and with reluctance withdrew, 
as the advancing day warned us of our homeward-returning 
ride. 

The setting sun, streaming in radiance through the trees, 
measured in long shadows the persons of the two men dis- 
mounting at the cottage door, from whence they had de- 
parted so buoyant and joyous in its morning brightness. 
That setting sun, sinking beneath its gorgeous bed of crim- 
son, gold and purple, left those men more chastened, true, 
more elevated, from their pilgrimage to the shrine of him 
whose name is the watchword of human Liberty. 



THE MEDICAL STUDENT. 



I REMAINED several weeks on my friend Tom's plan- 
tation, enjoying the course of life that he pursued, 
which was entirely consonant to my tastes. His plan- 
tation consisted of about three hundred acres, principally 
laid down in wheat, Indian corn and tobacco, though some 
of it still remained in meadow and woodland. This, with 
a handsome productive propert}^ in the neighboring towns 
of Alexandria and Washington, afforded him an abundant 
income to indulge his liberal, though not extravagant, tastes. 
He usually arose at five in the morning, mounted his horse, 
and rode over the plantation, overseeing and giving instruc- 
tions to the laborers ; and returning, was met bv his smiling 
wife and beautiful children at the breakfast-table ; after 
which, he again applied himself to business until eleven, 
when he threw all care aside and devoted himself to pleas- 
ure or study for the remainder of the day. He thus avoid- 
ed the two extremes to which country gentlemen are liable, 
over-work on the one hand, or ennui on the other. His 
library, the windows commanding a view of twenty miles 
down the Potomac, was crowded with a varied store of gen- 
eral literature, among which I observed, shining conspicu- 
ously, the emblazoned backs of Shakspeare and the worthy 
old Knight of La Mancha. History, Travels, the Classics, 
English, French, Spanish and Italian, and works on Natural 
History and general science, were marshaled on their re- 



THE MEDICAL STUDENT 23 

spective shelves. There was also a small but very select 
medical library, for my friend had taken his degree in that 
profession, and, although relieved from the necessity of 
practising for support, he was in the habit of attending gra- 
tuitously on the poor in the neighboring country. Marble 
busts of Shakspeare, Milton and Columbus, stood on pedes- 
tals in the corners of the room, and fine old portraits of 
Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Dante and Ben Jonson, besides 
an exquisite gem of Ruysdaels, hanging over the fire-place, 
adorned the walls. On one side of the room, fronting the 
entrance, an effigy in complete polished armor of the fif- 
teenth century stood erect and grim, the mailed gauntlet 
grasping the upright spear, while on a \vithered branch 
above it was perched, with extended wings, a superb Amer- 
ican eagle in full preservation, his keen eye appearing to 
flash upon the intruders at the entrance. In the centre, on 
the soft thick carpet, which returned no sound of footsteps, 
was a circular table surmounted with an Argand lamp and 
writing apparatus, on one side of which was one of those ex- 
quisitely comfortable lounging chairs that admit of almost 
every position of ease, and on the other a crimson fauteuil 
stuffed with down, which Tom laughingly said was for the 
peculiar benefit of his wife when she saw fit to honor his 
sanctum sanctorum with her presence. He tasked his in- 
vention to the utmost to make my time agreeable. Horses, 
dogs, guns, books, everything, were at my disposal. Among 
other excursions, he proposed, a few days after my arrival, 
that we should take a run down the Potomac in his boat. 
Now this boat was none other than a beautiful clipper-built 
schooner-rigged yacht, of about seven tons burden, with 
a very ample cabin in her centre, and from the gilt eagle on 



24 THE MEDICAL STUDENT 

her stern, and the gaudy pennant streaming at her mast- 
head, to the taught stay running out to the end of her mim- 
ic jib-boom, the most complete thing of the kind that I ever 
laid eyes on. In so expressing myself when I first saw her, 
I received an approbatory and very gi'acious nod from 
" Old Kennedy," a regular old salt, with one arm, for whom 
Tom had built a cottage on his estate, and to whom she was 
beauty personified, a beauty which he could the more read- 
ily appreciate from the fact that the far greater part of his 
time was devoted to her decoration. " Many a time," says 
Tom, " have I found him lying by himself on the banks, 
looking at her in admiration with half-open eyes; and I 
much doubt whether my Mary looks more beautiful to me 
than does her namesake, as she floats yonder, to old Ken- 
nedy." 

But to come to our story. We appointed the following 
day for our excursion, and having first ascertained that 
Walter Smith, an old friend, whose plantation was a couple 
of miles below, would join us, we early the next morning 
got up our anchor, and under the influence of a smacking 
breeze were soon cutting our way down the river, the 
white canvas stretching clean and taught out to the stays, 
our long pennant streaming proudly behind us, and our lit- 
tle jack shaking most saucily from its slender staff at the 
bowsprit, as we merrily curveted and jumped over the 
waves. Running down to a point on Smith's plantation, 
we got him on board, and were soon under way again, the 
water bubbling and gurgling into our scuppers as we lay 
down to it in the stiff breeze. Occasionally she would sweep 
gunwale under when a flaw would strike her, but old Ken- 
nedy, wide awake, would bring her up with a long curving 



THE MEDICAL STUDENT 25 

sweep as gracefully as a young lady sliding out of the waltz 
in a ci'owded ball-room, till, stretching out again, she would 
course along, dancing over the mimic waves with a coquetry 
equal to those same fair damsels w^hen they find an unfor- 
tunate wight secure in their chains. We were all in tine 
spirits, Tom's negro boy, seated at the heel of the foremast, 
showing his white teeth in a delighted grin as old Kennedy, 
with his grave face, played off nautical wit at his peculiar 
expense. We saw a number of ducks, but they were so shy 
that we could with difficulty get a shot at them, but we now 
and then succeeded in picking half a dozen snipe out of a 
flock as it rose from the shore and flew across our bows. 
We continued running down the river in this way for three 
or four hours, passing now and then a fisherman or other 
craft slowly beating up, but towards noon the breeze slack- 
ened ; we gradually lost our way, merely undulating, as 
the wind fanned by us in light airs, till finally it entirely 
subsided, our long pennant hanging supinely on the shrouds, 
and the water slopping pettishly against our bows, as we 
rested tranquilly upon its surface. The after part of the 
yacht was covered with an awniing which, although suffi- 
ciently high to prevent its obstructing the view of the 
helmsman, afforded us a cover from the rays of the sun, so 
that we lay contentedly reclining upon the cushions smoking 
our cigars, enjoying our refreshments and reviving old rec- 
ollections and associations; for it must be confessed that we 
three, in our student days, had " rung the chimes at mid- 
night." I had not seen Smith for several years. He was a 
descendant of the celebrated partisan officer who com- 
manded a dashing corps in the Revolution, and inherited, in 
a marked degree, all the lofty courtesy and real chivalry 



26 THE MEDICAL STUDENT 

that characterized that officer. He was exceedingly well 
read in the militar_v history of the country ; and, indeed, so 
thoroughly imbued with military spirit, that, should the sig- 
nal of war ring through the country, I know of no man 
whose hand would so soon be on the sword-hilt and foot in 
the stirrup. My introduction to his acquaintance was 
marked by an incident, so peculiarly painful and exciting in 
its character, that I cannot refrain from relating it. Having 
been let loose from the care of my guardians at a very early 
age, 1 made the first use of my liberty in traveling in a 
good-for-nothing sort of way over Europe, determined to 
see for m)'self the grandeur of Old England ; to climb the 
Alps ; to hear the romantic legends of Germany in her own 
dark forests ; to study the painters and sculptors of Italy 
on her classic soil ; to sa)^ nothing of visions of dark-eyed 
girls of Seville, of sylphs and fairies floating through the 
ballets and operas of Paris, and midnight adventures in the 
gondolas of Venice. Arriving at London, I fell in with and 
gladly availed myself of the opportunity to take apartments 
in the same house with my friend Tom and his fellow-stu- 
dent Smith, both Americans, and both completing a course 
of medical education by attending the lectures of the cele- 
brated John Hunter. 

It so happened that on the very first evening that we 
came together, in conversation upon the peculiar features 
of their profession, I expressed a desire to visit a dissecting- 
ing-room, never having been in one in my own country. 
Smith immediately invited me to accompany them to the 
lecture on that evening, which was to be delivered in the 
rotunda of the college, and where, by going at an early hour, 
my curiosity could be satisfied, besides the opportunity that 



THE MEDICAL STUDENT 2"] 

I should have of hearing that eminent surgeon. So, putting 
on our hats and taking our umbrellas in our hands, we 
plunged into the dense fog and groped our way over the 
greasy pavements to the college. It was a large building 
in a dark and retired court, with something in its very ex- 
terior sepulchral and gloomy. Entering the hall door, we 
ascended one pair of stairs, stopping for a moment as we 
passed the second story to look into the large rotunda of 
the lecture-room. The vacant chair of the professor was 
standing near the wall, in the rear of a circular table of such 
peculiar construction as to admit of elevation and depres- 
sion in every part. This table was the one upon which the 
subjects were laid when under the hands of the demon- 
strator. Two skeletons, suspended by wires from the ceil- 
ing, hung directly over it. The room was as yet unoccu- 
pied and silent. Ascending another flight of stairs, we 
came to a third, secured at its entrance by a strong oaken 
door. This appeared to put a stop to our further ascent, 
but, upon a small bell being pulled, a sort of wicket in the 
upper part of the door was cautiously drawn aside, discov- 
ering the features of a stern, solemn-looking man, who, ap- 
parently satisfied of the right of the parties to enter, drew 
one or two heavy bolts, and dropping a chain, admitted us. 
A small table was placed at the foot of the stairs, at which, 
by the light of a lamp, this gloomy porter was perusing a 
book of devotion. Ascending the stairs, it was not until 
three several attempts that I was enabled to surmount the 
effects of the effiuvia sufficiently to enter the green baize 
door that opened into the dissecting-room. As it swung 
noiselessly to behind me, the first sensation produced by the 
sight was that of faintness, but it almost immediately sub- 



28 THE MEDICAL STUDENT 

sided. There appeared a sort of profanity in speaking 
aloud, and I found myself unconsciously asking questions of 
my friends in a low whisper. 

On small narrow tables, in different parts of the large 
room, which, though lighted by a dome in the centre, re- 
quired, in the deep darkness of a London fog, the addition- 
al aid of lamps, were extended some five-and-twenty human 
corpses in different stages of dissection. Groups of stu- 
dents were silently engaged with their scalpels in examining 
these wonderful temples of the still more wonderful human 
soul. Here a solitary individual, with his book open before 
him upon the corpse, followed the text upon the human sub- 
ject, while there two or three together were tracing, with 
patient distinctness, the course of the disease which had 
driven the spirit of life from its frail habitation. I observed 
one of the professors, in his gold spectacles, pointing out to 
a number of the students, gathered around one of the sub- 
jects, the evidences of an ossification of the great aorta, 
which had, after years of torture, necessarily terminated 
the life of the sufferer. There was almost as much individ- 
uality in those corpses as if they had been living, and it re- 
quired the most determined effort on my part to divest my- 
self of the idea that they were sentient and aware of all that 
was passing around them. I recollect, particularly, one 
which was lying nearest the door as I entered ; it was the 
body of a man of about forty, with light hair and fair com- 
plexion, who had been cut down in the midst of health. 
His face was as full and his skin as white as if he had been 
merely sleeping ; but the knife had passed around his 
throat, down his body, and then in sections cross-ways, the 
internal muscles having been evidently exposed, and the 



THE MEDICAL STUDENT 



29 



skin temporarily replaced during the casual absence of the 
dissector. There was something peculiarly horrid in the 
appearance of that corpse, as, aside from a ruffianly and dis- 
solute expression of the features, the gash around his throat 
conveyed the impression that it was a murdered man lying 
before me. A middle-aged female was extended just be- 
yond, her long hair hanging down over the end of the table, 
but not as yet touched by the hand of the surgeon. While 
just beyond her, the body of an old man, from which the 
upper part of the skull had been sawn to take out the brain, 
appeared to be grinning at us with a horrid sort of mirth. 
In another part of the room, directly over which the black- 
ening body of an infant was thrown across a beam like a 
piece of an old carpet, was extended the body of a gigantic 
negro ; he lay upon his back, his legs somewhat apart, one 
of his arms thrown up so as to rest upon the top of his 
head, his eyes wide open, his nostrils distended and his teeth 
clenched in a hideous grin. There was such evidence of 
strength, such giant development of muscle, such appear- 
ance of chained energy and ferocity about him, that, upon 
my soul, it seemed to me every moment as if he was about 
to spring up with a frantic yell and throw himself upon us ; 
and wherever I went about the room my eyes mvoluntarily 
turned, expecting to see that fierce negro drawing up his 
legs ready to bound, like a malignant demon, over the inter- 
vening space. He had been brought home for murder on 
the high seas, but the jail-fever had anticipated the hand of 
the executioner, and his body of course was given over to 
the surgeons. A far different object lay on the floor near 
him. It was the body of a young girl of about eleven or 
twelve years old. The poor little creature had evidently 



30 THE MEDICAL STUDENT 

died of neglect, and her body, drawn up by the action of the 
flexor muscles into the form of a bow, stiffened in death, 
rocked forward and backward when touched by the foot, 
the sunken blue eyes staring sorrowfully and reproachfully 
upon us from the emaciated features. Beyond her, in most 
savage contrast, was thrown the carcass of a Bengal tiger, 
which had died a day or two before in the royal menagerie, 
his talons extending an inch beyond his paws, and there was 
about his huge distended jaws and sickly eyes as perfect a 
portraiture of disease, and pain, and agony, as it has ever 
been my lot to witness in suffering humanity. There was 
no levity about the students, but, on the contrary, a sort of 
solemnity in their examinations ; and when they spoke, it 
was in a low tone, as if they were apprehensive of disturb- 
ing the dead around them. I thought at the time that it 
would be well if some of those who sneer at the profession 
could look in upon one of these even minor ordeals to 
which its followers are subjected in their efforts to alleviate 
the sufferings of their fellow-men. 

As the hour for the lecture approached, the students, one 
by one, closed their books, washed their hands, and descend- 
ed to the lecture-room. We descended with the rest, and as 
we passed the grim porter, at the bottom of the stair-case, I 
observed in the corner behind him a number of stout bludg- 
eons, besides several cutlasses and muskets. A popular com- 
motion a short time previous, among some of the well-inten- 
tioned but ignorant of the lower classes, had induced the 
necessity of caution, and this preparation for resistance. En- 
tering the lecture-room, we took our places on the third or 
fourth row of seats from the demonstrator's table, upon 
which a subject was lying, covered with a white sheet, and 



THE MEDICAL STUDENT 3 I 

had time, as the room gradually tilled, to look about us. 
Besides the students, Smith pointed out to me several able 
professional gentlemen, advanced in life, who were attracted 
by the celebrity of the lecturer. Shortly after we had taken 
our seats, a slender, melancholy-looking young man, dressed 
in deep mourning, entered the circle in which we were seat- 
ed, and took his place on the vacant bench at my side. He 
bowed reservedly to my companions as he passed them, but 
immediately on sitting down became absorbed in deep sad- 
ness. My friends returned his salute, but did not appear 
inclined to break into his abstraction. At the precise mo- 
ment that the lecture was announced to be delivered, the 
tall form of the eminent surgeon was seen descending the 
alley of crowded seats to his chair. The lights in the various 
parts of the room were raised suddenly, throwing a glare on 
all around ; and one of the skeletons, to which an accidental 
jar had been given, vibrated slowly forward and backward, 
while the other hung perfectly motionless from its cord. In 
his short and sententious manner, he opened the subject of 
the lecture, which was the cause, effect, and treatment of 
that scourge of our country, consumption. His remarks 
were singularly lucid and clear, even to me, a la3'man. 
After having gone rapidly through the pathology of the dis- 
ease, consuming perhaps some twenty minutes of time, he 
said : " We will now, gentlemen, proceed to demonstration 
upon the subject itself." I shall not readily forget the scene 
that followed. As he slowly turned up the wristbands of 
his shirt sleeves, and bent over to select an instrument from 
the case at his side, he motioned to an assistant to withdraw 
the sheet that covered the corpse. Resuming his erect po- 
sition, the long knife glittering in his hand, the sheet was 



32 



THE MEDICAL STUDENT 



slowly drawn off, exhibiting the emaciated features of an 
aged woman, her white hair parted smoothly in the middle 
of her forehead, passing around to the back of the head, be- 
neath the plain white muslin cap. The silence, which always 
arrests even the most frivolous in the presence of the dead, 
momentarily checked the busy hum of whispers around me, 
when I heard a gasp — a'choking — a rattling in the throat — at 
my side ; and the next instant, the young man sitting next 
to me rose to his feet, threw his arms wildly upwards, and 
shrieking in a tone of agony, that caused every man's heart 
in that assembly momentarily to stop — ^^ My nt-o-t-h-c-r ! '' — 
plunged, prostrate and stiff, head foremost upon those in 
front of him. All was instant consternation and confusion. 
There was one present who knew him ; but to the majority 
of the students he was as much a stranger as he was to my 
friends. He was from one of the adjoining parishes of Lon- 
don, and two weeks before had lost his mother, to whom he 
was much attached, and by fatal mischance that mother lay 
extended before him upon the demonstrator's table. He 
was immediately raised, but entirely stiff and insensible, and 
carried into an adjoining rooms. Sufficient animation was at 
length restored to enable him to stand ; but he stared vacant- 
ly about him, the great beads of sweat trickling down his 
forehead, without a particle of mind or memory. The lec- 
ture was of course closed, and the lifeless corpse again en- 
trusted to hands to replace it in its tomb. The young man, 
on the following day, was brought sufficiently to himself to 
have memory present the scene again to his mind, and fell 
almost immediately into a raging fever, accompanied with 
fierce and violent delirium ; his fever gradually abated, and 
his delirium at intervals ; but when I left London for the 



THE MEDICAL STUDENT 33 

continent, three months after, he was rapidly sinking under 
the disease which carried off his mother — happily in a state 
of helpless and senseless idiocy ; and in a very short time 
after, death relieved him from his misery. The whole 
scene was so thrilling and painful, that, connecting- it in some 
measure with my introduction to Smith, his presence always 
recalled it to my memory. 



THE RESURRECTIONISTS. 



AS we returned to our lodgings, our conversation natur- 
ally turned upon the agitating event that we had just 
witnessed, and the extreme caution necessary in the 
procuring of subjects for anatomical examination. Smith 
related an occurrence that had happened to Doctor Huger, 
a gentleman of high standing in South Carolina. 

Shortly after the American revolution he visited Europe, 
for the purpose of pursuing his medical studies, and was 
received into the family of the same distinguished gentle- 
man whom we had just heard lecture, then beginning to 
rise to eminence and notice, an advantage which was neces- 
sarily confined to a verj^ few. In one of the dark and 
stormy nights of December, Mr. Hunter and his wife hav- 
ing been called to the bedside of a dying relative in the 
country, as Dr. Huger was quietly sitting at the parlor fire, 
absorbed in his studies, he was aroused by a hurried ring at 
the street door, and rising, went to answer it himself. Up- 
on opening the door a hackney coach, with its half-drowned 
horses, presented itself at the side of the walk, and two men, 
in slouched hats and heav}' sailor coats dripping with water, 
standing upon the steps, inquired in a low tone if he wanted 
a subject. Being answered in the affirmative, the}^ opened 
the carriage door, lifted out the body, which was enveloped 
in a sack, and having carried it up stairs to the dissecting- 
room, which was in the garret, received the two guineas 



THE RESURRECTIONISTS 35 

which they had demanded, and withdrew. The affair was 
not unusual, and Dr. Huger, resuming his book, soon forgot 
the transaction. About eleven o'clock, while still absorbed 
in his studies, he heard a violent shriek in the entry, 
and the next instant the servant-maid, dashing open the 
door, fell senseless upon the carpet at his feet, the candle- 
stick which she had held rolling some distance as it fell. 

Perceiving that the cause of alarm, whatever it might 
be, was without, he caught up the candlestick, and, jumping 
over her prostrate form, rushed into the hall, where an ob- 
ject met his view which might well have tried the nerves of 
the strongest man. Standing half-way down the staircase 
was a fierce, grim-looking man, perfectly naked, his eyes 
glaring wildly and fearfully from beneath a coarse shock of 
dark hair which, nearl}^ concealing a narrow forehead, par- 
tially impeded a small stream of blood, trickling down the 
side of the face from a deep scratch in the temple. In one 
hand he grasped a sharp long belt-knife, such as is used by 
riggers and sailors, the other holding on by the bannister, 
as he somewhat bent over to meet the gaze of the doctor 
rushing into the entry. The truth flashed across the mind 
of Doctor Huger in an instant, and with admirable presence 
of mind he made one spring, catching the man by the wrist 
which held the knife, in a way that effectually prevented his 
using it. " In the name of God I where am I ?" demanded 
the man in a horror-stricken voice, " am I to be murdered ?" 
■"Silence; not a whisper," sternly answered Dr. Huger, 
looking him steadilv in the eyes. " Silence, and your life is 
safe." Wrenching the knife from his hand, he pulled him 
by the arm passively along into the yard, and hurrying 
through the gate, first ran with him through one alley, then 



36 THE RESURRECTIONISTS 

into another, and finally rapidly through a third, till, coming 
to an outlet upon one of the narrow and unfrequented 
streets, he gave him a violent push ; retracing his steps 
again on the wings of the wind, pulling to and doubly 
locking the gate behind him, leaving the object of his alarm 
perfectly bewildered and perplexed, and entirely ignorant 
of the place from whence he had been so summarily ejected. 
The precaution and presence of mind of Dr, Huger most 
probably saved the house of Mr. Hunter from being torn 
down and sacked by the mob, which would have been in- 
stantly collected around it, had the aggrieved party known 
where to have led them to wreak his vengeance. 

After a few days, inquiry was carefully and cautiously 
made through the police, and it was ascertained that three 
men, answering the description of the resurrectionists, and 
their victim, had been drinking deeply through the after- 
noon in one of the low dens in the neighborhood of Wap- 
ping ; that one had sunk into a stupid state of intoxication, 
and had, in" that situation, been stripped and placed in a 
sack by his companions, a knife having been previously 
placed in his hand that he might relieve himself fromjhis 
confinement upon his return to sensibility, and that, in addi- 
tion to the poor wretch's clothes, they had realized the two 
guineas for his body. 

It is certainly painfvil, that the requirements of suffering 
humanity should make the occasional violation of the grave 
indispensably necessary. Whether the Spirit, released from 
its confinement, lies in the Limbo of the fathers, the Purga- 
tory of the Catholics, awaiting the great day of doom ; 
whether called from a life of virtue, all time and distance 
annihilated, it sweeps free and unconstrained in heavenly 



THE RESURRECTIOXISTS 37 

delight through the myriads and myriads of worlds rolling 
in the vast sublimity of space ; whether summoned from a 
course of evil, it shudders in regions of darkness and deso- 
lation, or writhes in agony amid fiaming atmospheres ; or 
whether its germ of life remains torpid, as in the wheat 
taken from the Egyptian pyramids, thousands of years exis- 
tent, but apparently not sentient, must, of course, be to us 
but the wild theories of imagination, and so remain in the 
darkness with which, in inscrutable wisdom, the Almighty 
has enveloped it. 

But that the Spirit can look with other than indifference, 
if not loathing, on the perishing exuvias of its chrysalis 
existence, which, to its retrospective gaze, presents little 
other than a tasking house of base necessities, a chained 
prison of cruel disappointments, even to our human reason, 
clogged as it is with bars and contradictions, appears hardly 
to admit the opportunity of question and of consequence. To 
that Spirit its disposition can but be a matter of indifference. 
Still, to the surviving friends, whose affection cannot sepa- 
rate mind from matter, those forms, lying in the still and 
silent tomb, retain all their dear associations ; and surely, it 
most gravely becomes the members of that profession, 
which, next to the altar, stands foremost in benevolence, 
that the deepest prudence should be exercised in this 
gloomy rite required by the living from the dead. 

But, upon reflection, we should hesitate to speak in terms 
of disparagement of the human body ; for, of all of the 
physical works of God, which we think we can comprehend, 
it bears most strongly the impress of design, in its wonder- 
ful, complex, and perfect adaptation, of means to ends. In it 
we recognize machinery of exquisite order, temporarily 



38 THE RESURRECTIONISTS 

furnished to the Spirit to place it in communion with the 
other material works of God, so that, by their study, it may 
increase in intelligence and elevate itself in love to Him, 
who, however incomprehensible to our as yet feeble minds, 
in many of his dispensations, we feel to be the exhaustless 
fountain of benevolence and love. 

We have learned to define the functions of this body 
into what we call Senses — three : taste, smell and feeling, in- 
tended for its preservation and continuous reconstruction ; 
and two, more noble : sight and hearing, through which, by 
contemplation of his creation, we are to approach the Deity. 
The inferior, though necessary, senses, each with appropriate 
stimulus to achieve its appointed end, and confined within 
its proper limits, furnish a lower order of pleasure to, and 
are servants of, the soul ; but if the Spirit — this ethereal 
emanation from the Deity, whose errand here is study of his 
works, and through them appreciation of his goodness, his 
love and elevation to intelligence of higher order still — if 
this beautiful Spirit permits itself to be over tempted by 
the pleasures of the inferior senses, and withdraws from the 
contemplation of the Supreme, then its purity is dimmed ; 
it sinks degraded into that lower mental stratum which it 
participates in, in common with the brutes ; and there, its 
snowy vestments soiled, and struggling in thefsensual mire, 
God still continuously calling it back^through the voice of 
conscience, it [lies and wails and sobs despairingly in what 
we call Sin. Is it not this continual conflict which the soul 
maintains with the lower senses that constitutes its school of 
probation here? — the dual nature that Paul complains of? 

But let us turn from this sad picture for a moment to the 
nobler senses — to vision and its organ. The Spirit directs its 



THE RESURRECTIOXISTS 39 

mimic telescope, the eye, on the surrounding world, and 
instantly, reflected on the retina through the little pupil, it 
beholds, pictured as if by magic, oceans, mountains, forests, 
rivers, valleys, tropic vegetation, arctic snows, parents, 
children, friends — all the machinery of life and being, now 
stationary, now floating in ever changing panorama — pan- 
orama, itself alone, fraught with study for ages, till, with the 
declining sun, darkness insensibly draws its veil around, and 
all is lost to view, all hushed in silence. 

But in the darkness, the Spirit still seeks its proper 
stimulus, the light, and elevates its gaze up to the o'erhang- 
ing canopy. Again, the little optic mirror, faithful to its 
purpose, performs its duty ; now reflects the blazing glories 
of the starry firmament, the constellations moving on in their 
appointed journeys in silent majesty ; the moon in serene 
splendor, sailing amid her sister planets through the cold 
blue ether, now struggling with, now joyously passing 
through, the flying clouds, temporarily obscuring her, to cast 
again her soft and benignant light on all the world beneath ; 
apt portraiture of the soul in her struggles with the murky 
clouds of sense. 

Amazed, the delighted Spirit begins to reason. It reasons 
out the Lens, places it auxiliary to the little mirror; and 
straight it finds the distant stars increase in brilliancy ; that 
some are nearer,* and that other stars appear, " which were 
not there before." In exultation it enlarges its artificial aid, 
and then present themselves far distant in the dark o'erhang- 
ing chasms, other and yet other stars; and far beyond them 
still, fleecy, fog-like nebulas. It increases the optic stimulus 
and the dim light is resolved to glittering " star dust," the 

* Planets. 



40 THE RESURRECTIONISTS 

Star dust to stars. It adds 3^et other power, and lo ! the 
fleecy], nebulae expand themselves to firmaments, firmaments 
glorious with Suns and their surrounding worlds ; here scin- 
tillating in their own proper silver splendor ; here in colors of 
orange, gold, and pale blue sapphire ; and here, glowing with 
ruby and emerald, blazing in all the gorgeousness of regal dia- 
dem,^ firmaments, compared with which its own, that which 
first met its uneducated gaze, is but as a point, a unit. 

But does the Spirit here stop and fold its wings? No, 
'tis but in its novitiate. With increasing aid, which its 
intelligence reasons forth, and which God continuously ex- 
tends in exact accordance with its patient effort, it speeds 
still onward, plunges yet deeper into the great awfuP voids 
of space, and sweeps in exultation o'er vast congeries, 
islands, continents of worlds, millions, countless myriads of 
worlds, which, like huge starry billows,'^ crowd the limitless 
aerial ocean; and still unsated, still unsatisfied, rushes on as 
the blazing glories continuously unfold themselves to its 
enchanted gaze! This is but the beginning of education in 
the Deity ; but the first lisping of the infant Spirit in its 
study of the Infinite ! 

Nor does the Spirit confine itself alone to aerial study, 
nor to unassisted vision in the examination of other of 
Nature's great volume open spread before it, but with micro- 
scopic aid dives into the equal wonders of the unseen 
beneath its feet ; hovers o'er and studies with easrerness the 
movements of the insect nation crowded in the bottom of 
the lily*; each member of the busy throng instinct with 
life, defined in individuality, each with its loves, and hates, 
and proper stimulus to action ; watches with like curiosity 

* See Nichols' Stellar Universe, pp. 72, 73. 



THE RESURRECTIONISTS 4I 

the infusoria millions, sporting and fighting in the single 
liquid drop ; invisible nothings to its naked eyesight, through 
magnifying power springing into entity and being; dis- 
covers the gaudy unsuspected plumage on the insect's wing; 
detects the crystal's angles ; with its prism, even dissects 
and delightedly holds suspended, quivering in its con- 
stituent colors, light itself, its own natural stimulus; scoops 
from the ocean of Eternity a drop, and calls it time; and 
weighs in like exquisite balance the minute grain and dis- 
tant worlds. Yet this little eye, this retina, this organ so 
indispensable, the ke}'- to open these wondrous mysteries, is 
a part and but a portion of the much-despised body. 

But what were all this to the gentle Spirit whose law is 
love, love which tends continually back to its great Creator, 
who Himself is love, if, locked up in loneliness, it could not, 
through the sense of hearing, receive the tones of tender- 
ness, gentleness, devotion — the interchange of thought with 
other intelligences — hear the mother's deep accents of affec- 
tion, the prattle of the child, the gentle voice of Charity, 
the glorious harmonies which float it away as if by magic, 
until in ecstacy it is merged and almost lost in the unseen 
Infinite; or the louder and terrific crash which frightens it, 
cowering into more immediate apprehension of the Deity? 
Doubtless the body is the servant of the soul ; but the con- 
nection of a minister of such necessity, provided b}- the 
Infinite, may well startle us when we reflect to what account 
we shall be held for its abuse and injury; injury inevitable, 
when in the least degree we o'erstep the bounds of rigid 
temperance ; injury that paralyzes the harmony of action, 
which is its appointed function, 

^ A nebulcc in the constellation " Aquarius " is estimated to be 



42 THE RESURRECTIONISTS 

three thousand six hundred milHons of miles in extent. One in 
" Lyra," to be distant from the earth forty-seven thousand bilHons 
of miles ; another, in the constellation " Triangulum," seven- 
teen thousand billions of miles. The nearest (!) star to our system 
is Alpha, in " Centaurus," which is computed to be twenty billions of 
miles distant. Our own Solar system, although it is five thousand 
seven hundred millions of miles in diameter, is a mere pomt in the 
Universe. (Bouvier's Astronomy.) 

^ This magnificent scene presents itself near " Kappa," in the 
constellation " Crux." See Bouv. Ast., pp. 250-284. For others, see 
Nichols' Stellar Universe, p, 172. 

^ VVhile it is hopeless for us to form even a faint idea of these awful 
distances, yet we may make a feeble effort at approximation towards 
their reality, by considering that a railroad car, traveling night and 
day, at the rate of twenty miles an hour, would require three hun- 
dred millions of years to reach the star " Sirius ; " (Bouvier's Ast.) — 
that with the electric fluid flashing through space at a velocity of 
twenty thousand miles a second, it would alike require, were such 
transmission possible, ninety years to convey a telegraphic message 
to star 67, " Cygni ; " and thirty years to Alpha "Centauri," the 
nearest fixed star to the earth. (Bouvier's Ast.) 

* The flies which I had observed were all distinguished from each 
other by their colors, their forms and their manners. Some were of 
the color of gold, others of silver, and others of bronze ; these were 
spotted, those striped ; some were blue, some green, some dull, and 
others shining. In some, the head was rounded like a turban, in others 
lengthened into a point like a nail ; in some it appeared dark like a 
spot of black velvet, in others it sparkled like a ruby. 

We may therefore conclude, by analogy, that there are animals 
which feed on the leaves of plants like the cattle in our meadows, 
which recline in the shade of hairs imperceptible to human eyes, and 
which drink from their glands, formed like suns, liquid gold and 
silver. Every part of a flower must present them with spectacles of 
which we have no idea. The yellow antherse suspended on white 
threads appear to them like double bars of gold balanced on col- 
umns more beautiful than ivory ; the corallge like vaults of rubies and 
topazes, of immeasurable extent ; the nectaria like rivers of sugar ; 



THE RESURRECTIONISTS 



43 



the other parts of the blossom like cups, urns, pavilions and domes, 
which the architecture and workmanship of men have never 
imitated. * * * 

The animals which live beneath their rich reflections must have 
ideas very different from ours concerning light and the other phe- 
nomena of nature. A dew-drop, filtering through the capillary and 
transparent tubes of a plant, appears to them like a thousand foun- 
tains ; collected into a globule at the extremity of one of its hairs, 
it is a boundless ocean ; and when evaporated in the atmosphere, an 
aerial sea. (St. Pierre, " Studies of Nature.") 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTERMASTER. 

(CONSriTUTION AND GUERRIERE.) 
(See Frontispiece.) 



No. I. 

THE sun became more and more powerful as it ascended 
towards the meridian, and was reflected with efful- 
gent intensity from the mirror-surface of the river. As 
we bent over the side and looked far down into the deep vault 
reflected from above, and saw our gallant little yacht, with her 
white sails and dark hull, suspended with even minute trac- 
ery over it, we could almost imagine ourselves with the 
Ancient Mariner, " in a painted ship upon a painted ocean." 
The white sand-banks quivered and palpitated in the sultry 
glare, and the atmosphere of the adjoining swamps hung over 
them in a light blue vapor, the deadly miasma, their usual 
covering, dissipated in the fervent heat, while the silence 
was unbroken, save by the occasional scream of the gull, as 
it wheeled about in pursuit of its prey, or the quick alarmed 
cry of the kingfisher, hastily leaving some dead branch upon 
the shore to wing its way farther from the object of its terror. 
The black boy, in perfect negro elysium, lay stretched fast 
asleep, with his arm resting upon one of the dogs, in the 
blazing sun on the forecastle ; while we ourselves reclined 
upon the cushions with our refreshments before us, indolently 
puffing our cigars under the awning ; Old Kennedy, perched 



OLD KEXNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 45 

upon the taffrail, coxswain fashion, with the tiller between 
his legs. While thus enjoying ourselves, like true disciples 
of Epicurus, the guitar was taken from its case in the cabin, 
and accompanied by the rich tones of Walter Smith, "Here's 
a health to thee, Mary," in compliment to our kind hostess, 
swept over the still surface of the river till dissipated in 
the distance, and anon the " Wild Huntsman," and " Here's 
a health to all good lassies," shouted at the pitch of three 
deep bass voices, bounded over the banks, penetrating the 
deep forest, causing the wild game to spring from their cov- 
erts in consternation at such unusual disturbance of its noon- 
tide stillness. " We bade dull care begone, and daft the 
time away," Old Kennedy, seated at the tiller, his grey hair 
smoothed down on one side, and almost falling into his eyes, 
his cheek distended with a huge quid of tobacco, which 
gave an habitual drag to a mouth whose expression indi- 
cated surly honesty and resolution, was a perfect portrait of 
many an old quarter-master, still in the service, while his 
scrupulously clean shirt, with its blue collar open at the neck, 
discovering a rugged throat encircled by a ring of grey 
hairs, and his white canvas trowsers, as tight at the hips as 
they were egregiously large at the ankles, indicated the rig 
in which he had turned up for the last thirty years to Sun- 
day muster. The old seaman had seen a great deal of serv. 
ice, having entered the Navy at the opening of the difficul- 
ties with the Barbary powers, and had been engaged in sev- 
eral of the signal naval actions which followed in the subse- 
quent war with Great Britain. Previous to that time, he had 
been in the 'employ of Tom's father, who was an extensive 
shipping merchant at Alexandria, and now, in his old age, 
influenced by an 'attachment for the son, who had built a 



46 OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

snug cottage for him on his estate, and, vested with the full 
control of the yacht, he had been induced to come down to 
spend the remainder of his days on the banks of the Poto- 
mac, enjoying the pension awarded by government for the 
loss of his arm. 

I had previously had the hint given me, that a little adroit 
management would set him to spinning a yarn which would 
suit my fancy. So, watching a good opportunity, knowing 
that the old man had been with Hull in his fight with the 
Guerriere, I successfully gave a kick to the ball by remark- 
ing: "You felt rather uncomfortable, Kennedy, did 3'ou 
not, as 3'ou were bearing down on the Guerriere, taking 
broadside and broadside from her, without returning a shot? 
You had time to think of your sins, my good fellow, as con- 
science had you at the gangway ? " " Well, sir," replied he, 
deliberately rolling his tobacco from one side of his mouth 
to the other, squirting the juice through his front teeth with 
true nautical grace — " Well, sir, that ere was the first frigate 
action as ever I was engaged in, and I am free to confess, I 
overhauled the log of my conscience to see how it stood, so 
it mought be I was called to muster in the other world in a 
hurry ; but I don't think any of his shipmates will say that 
Old Bill Kennedy did his duty any the worse that daj', be- 
cause he thought of his God, as he has many a time since at 
quarters. There's them as says the chaplain is paid for the 
religion of the ship, and it's none of the sailors' business ; 
but I never seen no harm in an honest seaman's thinking for 
himself. Howdsomever, I don't know the man what can 
stand by his gun at such time, tackle cast loose, decks sanded, 
matches lighted, arm-chests thrown open, 3^ards slung, ma- 
rines in the gangways, powder-boys passing ammunition 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 47 

buckets, ship as still as death, officers in their iron-bound 
boarding caps,cutlashes hanging bj lanyards at their wrists, 
standing like statues at divisions, enemy may-be bearing 
down on the weather-quarter — I say, I doesn't know the man 
at sich time, as won't take a fresh bite of his quid, and give 
a hitch to the waistbands of his trowsers, as he takes a squint 
at the enemy thi-ough the port as he bears down. And as 
you say, at that particular time, the Guerriere (as is French 
for sojer) was wearing and manoeuvering, and throwing her 
old iron into us, broadside and broadside, like as I have seen 
them Italians in Naples throw sugar-plums at each other in 
Carnival time. Afore she was through, tho', she found it 
was no sugar-plum work, so far as Old Ironsides was con- 
sarned. You obsarve, when we first made her out, we seen 
she was a large ship close hauled on the starboard tack, so 
we gin chase, and when within three miles of her took in 
all our light sails, hauled courses up, beat to quarters and 
got ready for action. She wore and manoeuvered for some 
time, endeavoring to rake, but not making it out bore up un- 
der her jib and topsails, and gallantly waited for us. Well, 
sir — as we walked down to her, there stands the old man 
(Hull), his swabs on his shoulders, dressed as fine in his yel- 
low nankin vest and breeches, as if he was going ashore on 
leave — there he stands, one leg inside the hammock nettings, 
taking snuff out of his vest pocket, watching her manoeu- 
vres, as she blazed away like a house a-fire, just as cool as if 
he was only receiving complimentary salutes. She burnt 
her brimstone, and was noisy, but never a gun fires we. Old 
Ironsides poked her nose steady right down for her, carrv- 
ing a bank of foam under her bows like a feather-bed cast 
loose. Well, as we neared her, and she wears first a-star- 



48 OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

board, and then a-larboard, giving us a regular broadside at 
every tack, her shot first falls short, but as we lessened the 
distance, some of them begins to come aboard, first among 
the rigging, and cuts away some of the stuff aloft, for them 
Englishmen didn't larn to fire low till we larnt 'em. First 
they comes in aloft, but by-and-by, in comes one — lower — 
crash — through the bulwarks, making the splinters fly like 
carpenters' chips, then another, taking a gouge out of the 
main-mast, and pretty soon agin — 'cJiit^ I recollects the sound 
of that ere shot well — ' chit,' another dashed past my ear, 
and glancing on a gun-carriage, trips up the heels of three 
as good men as ever walked the decks of that ere ship, and 
all this while never a gun fires we, but continues steadily 
eating our way right down on to his quarter, the old man 
standing in the hammock nettings watching her movements 
as if she was merely playing for his amusement. Well, as 
we came within carronade distance, them shot was coming 
on board rather faster than mere fun, and some of the young 
sailors begins to grumble, and by-and-by, the old men-of- 
wars-men growled too, and worked rusty — cause why — they 
sees the enemy's mischief, and nothing done by us to ag- 
gravate them in return. Says Bill Vinton, the vent-holder, 
to me : ' I say, Kennedy,' says he, ' what's the use ; if this 
here's the way they fights frigates, dam'me ! but I'd rather 
be at it with the Turks agin on their own decks as we was at 
Tripoli. It's like a Dutch bargain, all on one side. I ex- 
pects the next thing, they'll order pipe down and man the 
side-ropes for that ere Englishman to come aboard and call 
the muster-roll.' 'Avast a bit,' says I ; ' never you fear the 
old man. No English press-gang comes on board this ship; 
old Blow-hard knows what he's about.' 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 49 

" Well, by-aiid-by Mr. Morris, our first lieutenant, who all 
the while had been walking up and down the quarter-deck, 
his trumpet under his arm, and his eyes glistening like a 
school-boy's just let out to play ; by-and-by he begins to 
look sour, 'ticularly when he sees his favorite coxswain of 
the first cutter carried by a shot through the opposite port. 
So he first looks hard at the old man, and then walks up to 
him and says, by way of a hint, in a low tone : * The ship is 
ready for action, sir ; and the men are getting impatient.' 
The old man never turns, but keeps his eye steadily on the 
enemy, while he replies : ' Are — you — all ready, Mr. Mor- 
ris ?' ' All ready, sir,' says the lieutenant. ' Don't fire a gun 
till I give the orders, Mr. Morris,' says the old man. Pres- 
ently up comes a midshipman from the main-deck, touches 
his hat — ' First division all ready, sir. The second lieuten- 
ant reports the enemy's shot have hurt his men, and he can 
with difficulty restrain them from returning their fire.' 
' Tell him to wait for orders, Mr. Morris,' says the old man 
again, never turning his head. Well, just, you see, as the 
young gentleman turned to go below, and another shot car- 
ries off Mr. Bush, lieutenant of marines — just as we begins 
to run into their smoke, and even the old gun-boat-men, as 
had been with Decatur and Somers, begins to stare, up 
jumps the old man in the air, slaps his hand on his thigh 
with a report like a pistol, and roars out in a voice that 
reached the gunners in the magazines: ' Now, Mr. Morris, 
give it to them ! Now give it to them, fore and aft, round 
and grape! Give it to 'em, sir; give it to 'em!' and the 
words was scarce out of his mouth before our whole broad- 
side belched at half-pistol-shot ; the old ship, trembling from 
her keel to her trucks like an aspen, at the roar of her own 



50 OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

batteries, instantly shooting ahead and doubling across his 
bows, we gave him the other with three cheers, and then at 
it we went, regular hammer and tongs. You would a 
thought you were in a thunder storm in the tropics, from 
the continual roar and flash of the batteries. In ten min- 
utes his mizzen-mast went by the board. ' Hurrah !' shouts 
the old man ; ' hurrah, boys ; we've made a brig of her ; 
fire low ; never mind their top hamper ! Hurrah ! we'll 
make a sloop of her before we've done ! ' In ten minutes 
more over went her main-mast, carrying twenty men over- 
board as it went ; and sure enough, sir, in thirty minutes 
that 'ere Englishman was a sheer hulk, smooth as a canoe, 
not a spar standing but his bowsprit ; and his decks so com- 
pletely swept by our grape and cannister that there was 
barely hands enough left to haul down the colors, as they 
had bravely nailed to the stump of their main-mast. ' I say, 
Kennedy,' says the vent-holder to me, lying across the gun 
after she struck, looking out at the wrack through the port, 
and his nose was as black as a nigger's from the powder 
flashing under it, ' I say, I wonder how that 'ere Englishman 
likes the smell of the old man's snuff.' " 



OLD KENNEDY, THE OUARTER-MASTER. 

(Sailors Ashore. — Hornet and Peacock.) 



No. II. 

WELL, well ; sailors is queer animals, anyhow, and al- 
ways read}^ for a fight or frolic, and, so far as I sees, 
it don't much matter which. Now, there was 

Captain McL , he was a lieutenant then ; I was up in a draft 

of men with him to the lakes in the war, and as there was 
no canals nor steamboats in them days, they marched us up 
sojer fashion. As we marched along the road there was 
nothing but skylarking and frolic the whole time. Never a 
cow lying in the road, but the lads must ride ; nor a pig, but 
they must have a pull at his tail. I recollects, once't, as we 
was passing a farm-yard, Jim Albro, as was alongside of me 
— what does Jim do, but jumps over the fence and catches 
a goose out of the pond, and was clearing with it under his 
arm ; but the farmer, too quick for him, grabs his musket 
out of his door, and leveling at Jim, roars out to drop the 
goose. Jim catches the goose's neck tight in his hand, as it 
spraddles under his arm, and then turning his head over his 
shoulder, cries out, ' Yoti fire — I'll wring his neck off.' And 
so Jim would have got off with the goose, but one of the 
officers, seeing what was going on, orders Jim to drop the 
goose and have a care how he aggravates the honest farm- 



52 OLD KENXEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

ers in that 'ere sort of a way ; for, ' By the powers !' said he, 
' Mr. Jim Albro, this isn't the first time, and if I hear of the 
like ag'in from you, but your back and the boatswain's mate 
shall scrape an acquaintance the first moment we come 
within the smell of a tarred ratlin.' 

" It was wrong-, to be sure, for Bill to take the man's 
goose, seeing as how it was none of his ; but there was one 
affair that same day, as the lads turned up to, and, though a 
steady man, I'm free to confess I had a hand in't. Why, 
what do you think, sir, but as we what was bound for to 
fight the battles of our country — what do you think, but as 
we comes to one of them big gates they has on the roads, 
but the feller as keeps it — dam'me, sir, what does he do but 
makes all fast, and swears that we shan't go through without 
paying ! I'm free to confess, sir, that that 'ere gate went off 
its hinges a little quicker than the chain of our best bower 
ever run through the hawse hole. A cummudgeonly son of 
a land lubber — as if, because we didn't wear long-tail coats 
and high-heel boots, we was to pay like horses and oxen ! 
If the miserable scamp hadn't 've vanished like a streak into 
the woods, we'd have paid him out of his own tar-bucket, 
and rolled him over in the feathers of one of his wife's own 
beds. But, d'ye see, that wasn't the eend of it. Them 'ere 
lawyers gets hold of it, and it was the first time any of them 
land-sharks ever came athwart my hawse. 

" When we gets to the next town, up comes a constable 
to the midshipman, supposing as how he was in command of 
the draft ; up comes the constable and says, says he, ' Cap- 
ting, I arrests you for a salt and battery, in behalf of these 
here men, as has committed it,' meaning, you understand, 
the affair of the gate. Well, the midshipman, all ripe for 



OLD KEXNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 53 

frolic and fun himself, pulls a long face, and says gruffly that 
his men hadn't been engaged in no salt on no battery ; but 
that they was ready at all times to fight for their country, 
and asks him whereaway that same English battery lay, as 
he would answer for the lads salting it quick enough. Then 
the lawyer, as was standing with his hands behind him, up 
and tells him that ' it's for a trespass in the case.' ' Oh ! a 
trespass in the gate, you mean,' says the midshipman. But 
just then the lieutenant comes up to see what's the muss, 
and bids me put on my jacket, for, d'ye see, I had squared 
off to measure the constable for a pair of black eyes. Hang 
me, if the feller didn't turn as white as a sheet. ' Put on 
your jacket, sir,' says he, ' and leave the man alone.' And 

then, turning to the midshipnrian : ' Mr. , take the men 

down to the tavern and splice the main-brace, while I walk 
up to the justice's with the gentleman, to settle this affair. 
And, hark'ee, ye rascals,' says he, ' don't disgrace the name 
of blue jacket in this quiet village, but behave yourselves 
till I return.' Well, he and the lawyer walks up to the jus- 
tice's, and there they took a glass of wine together, and 
that's the last we hearn of that 'ere business. 

" There ag'in, when we took the Peacock — you all knows 
about that 'ere action. It was what I calls short and sweet. 
Fifteen minutes from the first gun, he was cut almost entire- 
ly to pieces, his main-mast gone by the board, six feet of 
water in the hold, and his flag flying in the fore-rigging, as 
a signal of distress. The sea was running so heavy as to 
wash the muzzles of our guns as we run down. We ex- 
changed broadsides at half-pistol-shot, and then, as he wore 
to, to rake us, we received his other broadside, running him 
close in upon the starboard quarter, and a drunken sailor 



54 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 



never hugged a post closer nor we did that brig till we had 
hammered daylight out of her. A queer thing is war, 
though, and I can't say as I was ever satisfied as to its de- 
sarts, though I've often turned the thing over in my mind 
in mid-watch since. There was we, what was stowing our 
round shot into that 'ere brig, as if she had been short of 
kenteledge, and doing all we could to sweep with our grape 




and cannister everything living from her decks ; there was 
we, fifteen minutes after, working as hard as we could pull, 
to keep her above water, while we saved her wounded 
and the prisoners, like as she had been an unfortunate wrack, 
foundering at sea. But all wouldn't do. Down she went, 
carrying thirteen of her own wounded, besides some of our 
own brave lads as was exerting themselves to save them. 



OLD KEXNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 55 

and mighty near did Bill Kennedy come to being one of the 
number, and having a big D marked ag'in his name on the 
purser's book, at that same time. The moment she showed 
sig-nals of distress, all our boats was put in requisition to 
transport the prisoners and wounded to the Hornet. I was 
in the second cutter with Midshipman Cooper. He was a 
little fellow then, though he's a captain now. Well, we 
stowed her as full as she could stow, and I was holding- on 
by the boat-hook in the bows, jist ready to push off, when 
Midshipman Cooper jumps aboard ag'in and runs back to 
call a couple of the Englishmen as was squared off at each 
other, at the foot of the main-hatch ladder, settling some 
old grudge (for, d'ye see, sir, all dii^6;>'pline is over the mo- 
ment a ship strikes). He runs back to tell them to clear 
themselves, for the ship was sinking ; but before he could 
reach them she rolls heavily, sways for an instant from side 
to side, gives a heavy lurch, and then down she goes head 
foremost, carrying them fellers as was squared off ag'in each 
other, and her own wounded, besides four or five of our 
own brave lads, right down in the vortex. Our boat spun 
round and round like a top for a moment, and then swept 
clear, but the midshipman barely saved himself by spring- 
ing into an empty chest as was floating by, and there he was, 
dancing about in the heavy sea like a gull in the surf, and it 
was nigh on two hours afore we picked him up ; but the lit- 
tle fellow was jist as cool and unconsarned as if he was in a 
canoe on a fish-pond. The next day we opens a subscrip- 
tion and furnishes alf the British seamen with two shirts and 
a blue jacket and trowsers each, 'cause why, d'ye see, they'd 
lost all their traps in their ship when she went down. 



OLD KENNEDY, THE OUARTER-M ASTER. 

(Perry's Victory on Lake Erie.) 



No. III. 

BUT," says I, " Kennedy, I think you said your draft 
was bound for the lakes. Which did you go to, On- 
tario or Erie?" " I was on both, sir," says he, " afore 
the war was over, and we got as much accustomed to pok- 
ing our flying jib-boom into the trees on them shores as if 
the sticks was first cousins, which, seeing as how the ships 
was built in the woods, wouldn't be much of a wonder. 
Part of that 'ere draft staid down on Ontario, with the old 
commodore as was watching Sir James, and part was sent 
up to Erie. I went up to Erie and joined the Lawrence, 
Commodore Oliver H. Perry ; and I hopes that old Bill 
Kennedy needn't be called a braggart, if he says he did his 
part in showing off as handsome a fight on that same fresh- 
water pond as has ever been done by an equal force on blue 
water. Our gallant young commodore made as tight a fight 
of it as it has ever been my luck to be engaged in : and see- 
ing as how half of his men was down with fever and ager, 
and not one in a dozen knew the difference between the 
smell of gun-powder and oil of turpentine, blow me ! but I 
think it was about as well done. 

" You see, our squadron was lying in a bay as they calls 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 57 

Put-in-Bay, and when the enemy first hove in sight it was 
in the morning, about seven o'clock. I knows that that was 
the time, because I had just been made quarter-master, by 
Captain Perry, and was the first as seen them through my 
glass. They was in the nor'-west, bearing down. As soon 
as we made them out to be the enemy's fleet, up went the 
signal to get under way, our ship, the Lawrence, in course 
taking the lead. Well, as we was working slowly to wind- 
ward, to clear some small islands — one of 'em was Snake 
Island — I hearn Captain Perry come up to the master and 
ask him, in a low voice, whether he thought he should be 
able to work out to wind'ard in time to get the weather- 
gage of the enemy ; but the master said as how the wind 
was sou'-west, and light, and he didn't think he could. 
' Then,' said the commodore, aloud, ' wear ship, sir, and go 
to leeward, for I am determined to fight them to-day.' But 
just then the wind came round to the south'ard and east'ard, 
and we retained the weather-gage, and slowly bore down 
upon the enemy. They did all they could to get the wind, 
but not succeeding, hove into line, heading west'ard, and 
gallantly waited for us as we came down. 

" There lay their squadron, all light sails taken in, just like 
a boxer, with his sleeves rolled up and handkerchief tied 
about his loins, ready to make a regular stand-up fight; and 
there wasn't a braver man, nor better sailor, in the British 
Navy, nor that same Barclay, whose broad pennant floated 
in the van of that squadron. 

" Pretty soon, up runs our motto-flag, the dying words of 
our hero Lawrence — * Don 't give up the shif — and floats 
proudly from our main ; and then the general order was 
passed down the line by trumpet : ' Each ship, lay your en- 



58 OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

eniy alongside i and if you ever seen a flock of wild geese fly- 
ing south'ard in the fall of the year, you'll have some idea 
of us as we went down into action. The men was full of 
spirit and panting for a fight, and even them as was so sick as 
to be hardly able to stand insisted upon taking their places at 
the guns. I recollects one in particular, he was a carpenter's 
mate, a steady man from Newport, he crawls up when we 
beat to quarters and seats himself upon the head of one of 
the pumps, with the sounding-rod in his hand, looking as 
yellow as if he had just been dragged out of a North Caro- 
lina cypress swamp ; but one of the ofihcers comes up to 
him as he was sitting there, and says : * You are too sick to 
be here, my man ; there's no use of your being exposed for 
nothing; you had better go below.' ' If 3^ou please, sir,' says 
the poor fellow, ' if I can do nothing else, I can save the 
time of a better man and sit here and sound the pump." 
Well, sir, as we bore down, the English occasionally tried 
our distance by a shot, and when we was within about a mile 
of 'em, one comes ricochetting across the water, bounds 
over the bulwarks, and takes that man's head as clean off 
his shoulders as if it had been done with his own broad-axe. 
I have hearn say, that ' every bullet has its billet,' and that is 
sartin, that it's no use to dodge a shot, for if you are des- 
tined to fall by a shot, you will sartin fall by that same shot; 
and I bear in mind that an English sailor, one of our pris- 
oners, told me that in a ship of their'n a feller, as skulked in 
the cable-tier, during an action with the French, was found 
dead with a spent forty-two resting on his neck. The ball 
had come in at the starn-port, struck one of the beams for'- 
ard, and tumbled right in upon him, breaking his neck, as he 
lay snugly coiled away in the cable-tier. No, no ; misfortins 



Or.D KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 59 

and cannon shot is very much alike; there's no dodging; 
every man must stand up to his work and take his chance; 
if they miss, he is ready when they pipes to grog; if they hit, 
the purser's book is squared and no more charges is scored 
ag'in him. 

" But, as I was saying, it wasn't long before we begun to 
make our carronades tell, and then at it we went, hot and 
heavy, the Lawrence taking the lead, engaging the Detroit ; 
and every vessel, as she came up, obeying orders and laying 
her enemy alongside in right good arnest, except the Niag- 
ara. She hung back — damn her I — with her jib brailed up 
and her main-topsail to the mast ; consequence was, the 
Charlotte, as was her opponent, avails herself of her dis- 
tance, runs up close under the starn of the Detroit, and 
both ships pours their combined fire into our ship, the 
Lawrence. I hearn the master myself, and afterwards two 
or three of the other officers, go up to the Commodore dur- 
ing the action and call his attention to the Niagara, and com- 
plain of her treacherous or cowardly conduct. Well, them 
two ships gin it to us hot and heavy, and in three minutes we 
was so enveloped in smoke, that we only aimed at the flashes 
of their guns, for we might as well have tried to track a 
flock of ducks in the thickest fog on the coast of Labrador, 
as their spars or hulls. I was working at one of the for'ard 
guns, and as, after she was loaded, the captain of the piece 
stood waiting with the trigger lanyard in his finger, ready 
to pull, one of the officers calls out, * I say, sir ; why don't 
you fire ? ' 'I want to make her tell, sir,' says the gunner ; 
' I am waiting for their flash — there it is ; ' and as he pulled 
trigger a cannon shot came through the port and dashed 
him to pieces between us, covering me and the officer all 



6o OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

over with his brains. Their fire was awful, the whole of the 
shot of the two heaviest ships in the squadron pouring into 
us nigh on two hours without stopping. Our brig became 
a complete slaughter-house ; the guns dismounted, carriages 
knocked to pieces, some of our ports knocked into one, 
hammock-netting shot clean away, iron stancheons twisted 
like wire, and a devilish deal more daylight than canvas in 
our bolt ropes, the wounded pouring down so fast into the 
cockpit, that the surgeons didn't pretend to do more than 
apply tourniquets to stop the bleeding, and many of the 
men came back to the guns in that condition, while others 
was killed in the hands of the surgeons. One shot came 
through the cockpit, jist over the surgeon's head, and killed 
midshipman Laub, who was coming up on deck with a 
tourniquet at his shoulder, and another killed a seaman who 
had already lost both arms. Our guns was nearly all dis- 
mounted, and finally there was but one that could be brought 
to bear, and so completely was the crew disabled, that the 
commodore had to work at it with his own hands. The 
men became almost furious with despair, as they found them 
selves made the target for the whole squadron, and the 
wounded complained bitterly of the conduct of the Niagara, 
as they lay dying on the decks and in the cockpit. Two 
shots passed through the magazine, one knocked the lantern 
to pieces and sent the lighted wick upon the floor, and if the 
gunner hadn't have jumped on it with his feet before it 
caught the loose powder — my eyes ! but that 'ere ship and 
everything on board would have gone into the air like a 
sheaf of sky-rockets, and them as was on board never would 
have know'd which side whipped. Out of one hundred 
men that went into action, eighty-three were either killed or 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 6 1 

wounded, and ever}^ officer was killed or hurt except the 
Commodore. Our lieutenant of marines, Lieutenant Brooks 
— him as was called the Boston Apollo— the handsomest 
man in the sarvice, was cut nearly in two by a cannon shot 
and died before the close of the action. 

" It was nigh on all up with us. The men was real grit 
though, and even the wounded cried, ' Blow her up,' rather 
than strike. Well, as things stood, there was an end of the 
Lawrence, so far as fighting went, — and our Commodore 
says, says he, — ' Lieutenant Yarnall, the American flag must 
not be pulled down over my head this day, while life remains 
in my body : I will go on board that ship and bring her my- 
self into action, and I will leave it to you to pull down the 
Lawrence's flag if there is no help for it.' So we got our 
barge alongside, by the blessing of Heaven, not so much in- 
jured but what she'd float, and off we pushed for the Niag- 
ara — the Commodore standing with his motto-flag under his 
arm ; but as soon as the enemy caught sight of us they de- 
livered a whole broadside directly at the boat, and then pep- 
pered away so briskly, that the water all around us bubbled 
like a duck-pond in a thunder-shower. There Perry stood, 
erect and proud, in the starn sheets, his pistols strapped in 
his belt and his sword in his hand, his eyes bent upon the 
Niagara, as if he'd jump the distance, never heeding the 
shot flying around him like hail. The men begged him to sit 
down; they entreated him with tears in their eyes, but it was 
not until I dragged him down by main force, the men de- 
claring that they would la}'^ upon their oars and be taken, that 
he consented. 

" There's them as says the Niagara wouldnt come down, 
and there's them as savs she couldn t ; all I know is, that when 



62 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 



our gallant young Commodore took the quarter-deck, she 
walked down into the thickest of it quick enough — my eyes ! 
how we did give it to 'em, blazing away from both sides at 
once. We ran in between the Detroit and Charlotte, our 
guns crammed to the muzzle, and delivered both of our 
broadsides into them at the same time, grape, cannister and 
all, raking the others as we passed, and the Niagara lads 




showed it wasn't no fault of their'n that they hadn't come 
earlier to their work. I never know'd guns sarved smarter, 
than they sarved their'n, till the end of the action, nor with 
better effect. We soon silenced the enemy, and run up the 
stars again on the Lawrence as she lay a complete wrack, 
shattered and cut up among them, for all the world like a 
dead whale surrounded by shirks. They struck one after 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 63 

another, much like you may have seen the flags of a fleet 
run down after the evening gun ; and as the firing ceased, 
and the heavy smoke-bank rolled off to leeward, shiver my 
timbers ! but it was a sight for a Yankee tar to see, the 
striped bunting slapping triumphantly in the breeze over 
the British jacks at their gaffs. 

" If there's any man, tho', as sa3's that their Commodore 
wasn't a man, every inch of him, aye ! and as good a seaman, 
too, as ever walked a caulked plank, there's one here, and 
his name is Bill Kennedy, as will tell him that he's a know- 
nothing, and talks of a better man nor himself. Aye, aye ! 
scrape the crown off his buttons, and he might mess with 
Decatur and Lawrence, and splice the main-brace with 
Stewart and Hull, and they be proud of his company. He 
was badly cut up, tho', and I have hearn tell, that when he 
got home to England, he wouldn't go for to see the lady 
what he'd engaged to marry, but sent her word by a friend, 
— I don't know who that friend was, but suppose it was his 
first lieutenant, in course — he sends her word that he wouldn't 
hold her to her engagement, ' 'cause why,' says he, ' I'm all 
cut to pieces, and ain't the man I was when she engaged for 
to be my wife.' Well, what d'ye think the noble girl says 
when she hearn this ? ' Tell him,' says she, ' as long as there's 
enough of him left to hold his soul, I will be his.' I say. 
Master Tom, that's most up to the Virginny gals. Well, 
well, there never was but one, as would have said as much 
for Bill Kennedy, and she, poor Sue, she married curly- 
headed Bob, captain of the main-top in the Hornet, in a pet, 
and was sorr}" when it was too late. She was a good girl, 
though, and I've lent her and her young-ones a hand once't 
or twice since in the breakers. 



OLD KENNEDY, THE OUARTER-MASTER. 

(Chesapeake and Shannon — Boat Fight on Lake Ontario.) 



No. IV. 

WELL, Mr. Kennedy," says Smith, '' you have told us 
of your victories — have you always been victori- 
ous? Have you always had the luck on your side? 
Where did you lose your arm ?" The old man took a long 
and deliberate survey of the horizon astern of us, apparent- 
ly not well pleased with a dark cloud just beginning to lift 
itself above its edge, but whatever inferences he drew from 
it he kept to himself, and having relieved his mouth from 
the quid, and replenished the vacuum by a fresh bite of the 
pig-tail, he leisurely turned to us again and replied with 
some emphasis: " Them as fights the English, fights men ; 
and though its been my luck to be taken twice by them, 
once't in the unlucky Chesapeake, and once't on the lakes, 
and though I owes the loss of my flipper to a musket 
marked G. R., I hopes I bears them no more grudge than 
becomes a true Yankee sailor. Now, speaking of that, I've 
always observed, since the war, when our ships is in the 
same port, that however much we always fights when we 
falls in with each other, that the moment the English or 
Americans gets into a muss with the French, or the Dutch, 
or the Spaniards, that we makes common cause and tumbles 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 



65 



in and helps one another But I'm blest ! but that Chesa- 
peake business was a bad affair. They took the ship. Let 
them have the credit of it, say I, but no great credit neither; 
for half the men was foreigners in a state of mutiny and 
none of the men know'd their officers. I hearn Captain 
Lawrence say himself, after he was carried below, that when 




he ordered the bugle-man to sound to repel boarders, the 
cursed Portuguese was so frightened, or treacherous, that no 
sound came from the bugle, though his cheeks swelled as 
if in the act. And I hearn a British officer say to one of 
our'n, that Captain Lawrence owed his death to his wearing 
a white cravat into action, and that a sharp-shooter in their 
tops picked him off, knowing as how no common man 
would be so dressed. I don't complain of their getting the 



66 OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

best of it, for that's the fortune of war, but they behaved 
badly after the colors was hauled down. They fired down 
the hatches, and," lifting his hat and exhibiting a seam that 
measured his head from the crown to the ear, " I received 
this here slash from the cutlash of a drunken sailor, for my 
share, as I came up the main-hatch, after she surrendered. 
My eyes ! all the stars in Heaven was dancing before me as 
1 tumbled back senseless on the gun-deck below. And when 
they brought the ship into Halifax, she smelt more like a 
slaughter-house nor a Christian man-of-war. Howsomever, 
they whipt us, and there's an end of the matter, only I wish't 
our gallant Lawrence might have died before the colors 
come down, and been spared the pain of seeing his ship in 
the hands of the enemy. It was what we old sailors ex- 
pected, though. She was an unlucky ship, and that disgrace- 
ful affair between her and the Leopard was enough to take 
the luck out of any ship. Now, if it had been old " Iron- 
sides,"* or the " Old Wagon, "f I'm blessed ! but the guns 
would have gone off themselves, had the whole crew mu- 
tinied and refused to come to quarters, when they heard the 
roar of the British cannon ; aye, aye. Old Ironsides' bull- 
dogs have barked at John Bull often enough, aye, and al- 
ways held him by the nose, too, when they growled ; but 
the Chesapeake's colors was hauled down, while the Shan- 
non's was flying. That's enough ; we had to knock under; 
let them have the credit of it, say I. They'd little cause, 
except in that 'ere fight, to crow over the Yankee blue 
jackets. They whipt us, and there's an end to the matter, 
and be damned to 'em. But that ain't answering your ques- 
tion, as how I lost my larboard flipper. It wasn't in that 
* Frigate Constitution. f Frigate United States. 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 67 

'ere unfortunate ship, altho' if it would have saved the honor 
of the flag, Bill Kennedy would willingly have given his 
head and his arms, too ; but it was under Old Chauncey on 
Lake Ontario. It was in a boat expedition on that 'ere lake, 
that I first got a loose sleeve to my jacket, besides being 
made a pris'ner into the bargain. You see, Sir James was 
shut up in Kingston, and beyond the harbor there was a 
long bay or inlet setting up some three or four miles. Now, 
the Commodore thought it mought be there was more of 
his ships in that same bay ; so he orders Lieutenant Gregory, 
him as the English called the ' Dare-devil Yankee,' the same 
as went in with a barge the year before and burned a heavy 
armed schooner on the stocks, with all their stores, and came 
away by the light of it at — at — I misremember the place — he 
orders him to proceed up the bay to reconn'iter, to see 
whether there was any of the enemy's ships at anchor there > 
to get all the information he could of his movements, and 
to bring off a prisoner if he could catch one, that the Com- 
modore mought overhaul him at his leisure. So the lieuten- 
ant takes a yawl as we had captured some days before, hav- 
ing Sir James's own flag painted upon her bows, with mid- 
shipman Hart, and eight of us men, and pulls leisurely along 
shore, till we made the entrance of the bay. It was a bright 
Rummer afternoon, and the water was as calm as the Captain's 
hand-basin, not a ripple to be seen. Well, the entrance was 
narrow, and somewhat obstructed by small islands ; but we 
soon got through them, never seeing two heavy English 
men-of-war barges, as was snugly stowed in the bushes ; but 
about three miles up we spies a raft of timber, with two men 
on it. We gave way, and before long got up abreast of it. 
When we got close aboard the raft, the lieutenant hailing 



68 OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

one of the men, calls him to the side nearest the boat, and 
says : * My man, what are you lying here for, doing nothing? 
The wind and tide are both in your favor ; don't you know 
we are waiting down at Kingston for this here timber for 
his Majesty's sarvice ; what are you idling away your time 
for here?' The feller first looks at Sir James's flag painted 
upon the bows of the yawl, and then at the lieutenant, and 
then again at the flag, and then at the lieutenant, and then 
opens his eyes, and looks mighty scarey, without saying 
anything, with his mouth wide open. ' I say,' sa3^s the lieu- 
tenant ag'in, * I say, you feller with the ragged breeches, do 
you mean to swallow my boat ? Wh}' don't you answer ; what 
the devil are you doing here ?' The feller scratches his head, 
and then stammers, ' I — I — / know yoii ; you are him as 
burnt Mr. Peter's schooner last year.' ' Well,' says the 
lieutenant, ' what are you going to do with this here timber?' 
' I'm carrying it down for a raising,' says he. ' What!' says 
the lieutenant, ' do you use ship's knees and transom beams 
for house-raising in this part of the country ? It won't do, 
my man. Bear a hand, my lads, and pile all the boards and 
light stuff in the centre, and we'll make a bonfire in honor of 
his most sacred Majesty.' So we set fire to it, and took the 
spokesman on board the yawl, towing the other man in their 
skiff astarn, intending to release them both when we got all 
the information we wanted out of them. We returned 
slowly down the bay again, the blazing raft making a great 
smoke ; but as we neared the outlet, what does we see, but 
them two heavy barges pulling down to cut us off. We had 
to run some distance nearly parallel with them, an island in- 
tervening, so we every moment came nearer to them, and 
soon within speaking distance. The men gave way hearty, 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 69 

in fear of an English prison, but as we came nearer each 
other, some of the officers in the English boats recognizes 
Lieutenant Gregory, 'cause why, they had been prisoners 
with us, and hails him. ' Gregory,' says they, ' you must 
submit, it's no use for 3^ou to resist ; we are four to your 
one. Come, old feller, don't make any unnecessary trouble, 
but give up ; you've got to knock under.' The lieutenant 
said nothing, but he was a particular man, and had his own 
notions upon the subject, for, bidding the men give way, he 
coolly draws sight upon the spokesman with his rifle, and 
most sartin, as he was a dead shot, there would have been a 
vacant commission in His Majesty's Navy, hadn't the rafts- 
man, who was frightened out of his wits, caught hold of 
him by the tails of his coat and dragged him into the bottom 
of the boat. The lieutenant drops his rifle, and catches the 
feller by his legs and shoulders and heaves him clear off the 
boat towards the skiff, while we men, dropping our oars, 
gave them a volley with our muskets, and then laid down to 
it again. We had taken them by surprise, but as we dashed 
along ahead, they returned our fire with interest, peppering 
some of our lads and killing Midshipman Hart outright, who 
merely uttered an exclamation as his oar flew up above his 
head, and fell dead in the bottom of the boat. Well, we 
see'd the headmost barge all ready, lying on her oars and 
waiting for us, and, as there was no running the gauntlet 
past her fire, we made for another opening from the bay as 
didn't appear to be obstructed, but as we nears it, and just 
begins to breathe free, three boats full of lobsters of red- 
coats shoots right across, and closes the entrance effectually 
on that side. We was in a regular rat-trap. We had been 
seen and watched from the moment we had got inside of the 



yO OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

bay, burning- the raft and all. * Well, my lads,' says the 
lieutenant, ' this will never do ; we must go about, hug the 
shore close, and try to push by the barges.' So about we 
went, but as we neared the shore, there was a party of them 
'ere riflemen in their leggin's and hunting-shirts, all ready 
for us, waiting just as cool and unconsarned as if we was a 
parcel of Chrismas turkeys, put up for them to shoot at. 
' Umph ! ' says the lieutenant again, ' 'twont do for them fel- 
lers to be cracking their coach-whips at us neither; we've 
nothing to do for it, my boys, but to try our luck, such as it 
is, with the barges.' So, as we pulled dead for the entrance 
of the bay, they lay on their oars, all ready for us, and as 
we came up they poured such a deadly fire into that 'ere 
yawl as I never see'd before or since. There was nineteen 
wounds among eight of us. The lieutenant was the only 
one unhurt, though his hat was riddled through and through, 
and his clothes hung about him in tatters. How he was 
presarved, is a miracle, for he was standing all the while in the 
starn-sheets, the most exposed of any on board. They kept 
firing away, as if they intended to finish the business, and 
gi'n no quarter, the men doing what little they could to pull 
at the oars ; but a boat of wounded and dying men couldn't 
make much headway. Our men was true Yankee lads, tho', 
and no flinching. 

" There was one man named Patterson, as pulled on the 
same thwart with me, and, of all the men I've ever sailed 
with, he showed most of what I calls real grit. At their first 
volley he gets a shot through his thigh, shattering the bone 
so that it hung twisted over on one side, but he pulls away 
at his oar as if nothing had happened. Presently another 
passes through his lungs and comes out at his back — still he 



OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 7 1 

pulls away and didn't give in ; at last a third takes him 
through the throat and passes out back of his neck ; then, 
and not till then, did he call out to the lieutenant : ' Mr. 
Gregory, I'm killed, sir ; I'm dead ; I can't do no more.' 
So the lieutenant says : ' Throw your oar overboard, Patter- 
son, and slide down into the bottom of the boat and make 
yourself as comfortable as you can.' Well, what does Pat- 
terson do, as he lays in the bottom of the boat bleeding to 
death, what does he do but lifts his arm over the gunwale, 
and shaking his fist, cry : * Come on, damn ye, one at a time, 
and I'm enough for ye as I am.' Aye, aye, Patterson was 
what I calls real grit. He was a good, quiet, steady man, 
too, on board ship ; always clean and ac/jve, and cheerful 
in obeying orders. Howsomever, his time had come, and, 
in course, there was an end of his boat duty in this world. 

" Well, they continued to fire into us as fast as they could 
load, 'cause why, they was aggravated that so small a force 
should have fired into them ; but the lieutenant takes off his 
hat and makes a low bow to let them know as how he had 
surrendered, and then directs me to hold up an oar's blade ; 
but they takes no notice of either, and still peppered away ; 
but just as we concludes that they didn't intend to give no 
quarter, but meant to extarminate us outright, they slacks 
firing, and, taking a long circuit, as if we'd have been a tor- 
pedo or some other dangerous combustible, pulled up 
aboard. There wasn't much for them to be afeard on, 
though, for, with the exception of the lieutenant, who was 
untouched, there was nothing in the boat but dead and 
wounded men. They took us in tow and carried us down 
to Kingston, and mighty savage was Sir James. He said 
that it was unpardonable that so small a force should have 



72 OLD KENNEDY, THE QUARTER-MASTER 

attempted resistance, and he and the lieutenant getting high, 
and becoming aggravated by something as was said between 
them. Sir James claps him in a state-room under arrest, and 
keeps him there under a sentry, with a drawn baggonet, for 
nigh on two months. After that he sends the lieutenant to 
Quebec, and then to England, where he remained till the 
close of the war ; but them of us men as didn't die of our 

wounds was kept down in Montreal until " Here the 

old man broke off abruptly, and taking another long look at 
the horizon, said : " If I ain't much mistaken, Master Tom, 
there's something a-brewing astarn there as will make this 
here craft wake up as if she was at the little end of a funnel 
with a harricane pouring through the other ; and if I knows 
the smell of a Potomac thundergust, we'll have it full blast 
here before we're many minutes older." 



THE PARTISAN LEGION. 



OLD Kennedy quietly proceeded to make the necessary 
preparations to encounter the tempest. His peacoat 
was got out of the locker and tightly buttoned about 
him, and his tarpaulin well secured by its lanyard to his 
buttonhole. The mainsail and foresail were stowed and 
secured, and nothing but the jib, the bonnet of which was 
reefed down, was allowed to remain spread upon our dark 
and graceful schooner. 

The cloud in the horizon began to extend itself, increas- 
ing and gradually rising and covering the sky, and the old 
man's prediction was evidently about to be fulfilled. A 
dead calm lay upon the river, and a preternatural stillness 
clothed in a sort of stupor the whole face of nature around 
us, while low muttering rolls of thunder from the dark 
cloud, and the frequent, sudden, crinkling lightning, glitter- 
ing across its surface, warned us that we were about to 
encounter one of those violent and terrible thunder-storms 
which not unfrequently occur in this part of the country. 

The distant muttering in the horizon rapidly became 
louder, and the perfect stillness of the forest was broken. 
The melancholy sighs of the coming blast increased to 
wails, the boughs of the trees rubbed against each other 
with a slow, see-saw motion, and, as the storm increased, 
grated with a harsh and continued groaning. The lightning 
became quick and incessant and blindingly vivid, and the 



74 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 



dark gloom of the forest was rendered still darker by its 
rapid glare. The river itself soon was lashed into foam be- 
hind us, and in a few moments more, accompanied by huge 
clouds of dust, the tempest came roaring upon us. The cul- 
tivated fields and cheerful plantations which were but now 
smiling in quietness and repose on the other side of the 




Washington. 



Pickens. 



Morgan. 



Lee. Sumter. 

THE PARTISAN LEADERS OF THE SOUTH. 

river, were now instantly shut out by the deep gloom. As 
the gust struck the schooner, she checked for a moment as 
if in surprise, and then shot forward with the speed of an 
arrow from the bow, swept on in the furious tempest as if she 
had been a gossamer or feather, enveloped in dust and 
darkness, the rain and hail hissing as it drove onwards, and 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 75 

the terrific thunder, now like whole broadsides of artillery, 
now quick and incessant peals of musketry, roaring with 
frightful violence around her, while the deep black forest, lit 
up by the blue lightning, bellowed incessantly with the hol- 
low echoes. As we swept forward with frantic swiftness, 
a quivering white flash struck the top of an immense oak, 
and ere the crashing, deafening roar of the thunder followed, 
it was torn and splintered, shivered and burning, hurled on 
by the blast. 

As soon as the squall struck us we ensconced ourselves 
below, in full confidence of our safety with Old Kennedy at 
the helm ; and a fine subject would the old seaman have 
been for a painter, as he sat amid the fury of the storm, stern 
and erect, the tiller under the stump of his left arm, and the 
jib-sheets with one turn around the cleat in his right hand, 
the usual surly expression of his countenance increased into 
grim defiance, as he steadily and unmovingly kept his eyes 
fixed into the gloom ahead. At one time we darted by a 
sloop at anchor, which had let go everything by the run, her 
sails over her side in the water, on which, if the yacht had 
struck, she would have been crumpled up like a broken egg- 
shell ; but thanks to our old quartermaster's care, we dashed 
by in the gloom, his eyes never even for a moment turning 
on her as we passed. 

The storm swept us on in its fury for some time, when it 
gradually abated in violence and began to subside. The 
heavy clouds, flying higher and higher in detached masses in 
the heavens, bye and bye lifted themselves in the western sky, 
and through the ragged intervals the setting sun poured his 
last rays over the dripping forest, bronzing the dark sides of 
our little schooner as he sunk and disappeared beneath the 



76 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

horizon. As the evening wore on, a star here and there dis- 
covered itself struggling amid the scud flying over it, and 
presently the moon shone out with her broad and silver 
light, and every vestige of the storm had disappeared. 

As we glided gaily on, with a fresh, fine breeze, towards 
our cottage home past the deep forest, the silence was broken 
by a long, melancholy howl, which I supposed was that of a 
solitary wolf, but Smith said that it was more probably from 
some one of the large breed of dogs which are found on 
most of the plantations. Smith's mind was of a sad and pen- 
sive, although not at all of a gloomy cast ; and, like most 
men of that character, he required strong excitement to 
arouse him ; but when aroused, of all delightful companions 
that I have ever met, he was the man. The excitement of 
the storm had been sufficient stimulus, and, giving the reins 
to his wild spirits and excited feelings, he entertained us 
with an incessant stream of anecdote and adventure. The 
howl of the wolf had recalled to mind an incident in the 
life of his ancestor, and, in connection, he related it, with 
many other adventures of the celebrated Partisan Legion. 
I will not attempt to use his beautiful and spirit-stirring 
language, but will confine myself to a few disjointed anec- 
dotes of the many which he related of the dashing corps, 
as they happen to recur to my memory. 

The Legion, intended to act independently or conjointly 
with the main army, as circumstances might require, com- 
posed of three companies of infantry and three troops of 
cavalry, amounting in all to three hundred and fifty men, 
had won for itself in the Southern campaigns, and particu- 
larly in the masterly retreat of Green, before Cornwallis, the 
honorable distinction of being called " the eye of the South- 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 



77 



ern army." Its colonel, Green's confidential adviser and 
constant friend, a stern disciplinarian, was nevertheless be- 
loved by his officers and men, and so careful was he of the 
interests of the latter, that while the rest of the army were 
suffering, the Legion by his exertions was always retained 
in the highest state of personal appearance and discipline. 
The horses were powerful and kept in high condition ; in- 
deed, he has been accused of being more careful for their 





safety than for that of his men. The cavalry in the British 
army, mounted on inferior horses, could not stand a moment 
before them ; and, armed with their long heavy sabres, the 
Legion troopers were considered full match for double the 
force of the enemy. 

The Legion infantry were well equipped, and thoroughly 
disciplined men, and acted in unison with the cavalry. They 
were commanded by Captain Michael Rudolph, a man of 



yS THE PARTISAN LEGION 

small stature, but of the most determined and daring cour- 
age, and of great physical strength. He always led in per- 
son the "forlorn hope," when the Legion's services were 
required in the storm of posts, and he was so completely the 
idol of his men, that it was only necessary that he should 
be detailed on duty of the most desperate character, that the 
infantry, to a man, were anxious to be engaged in it. The 
leading captain of the cavalry, James Armstrong, was almost 
precisely his counterpart in person, in strength, in undaunted 
courage and heroic daring, beloved by his men, ahead of 
whom he was always found in the charge. O'Neal, ^Iso of the 
cavalry, was a bold and gallant man, who fought his way 
up from the ranks ; for no carpet knight had consideration 
in the corps. In an early part of his career he came near 
cutting off in the bud Cornwallis' favorite cavalry officer, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton ; for this officer, whatever his 
merits or demerits, endeavored to enter a window at which 
O'Neal was posted, when the latter, dropping his carabine, 
snapped it within an inch of his head, but the piece missing 
fire, Tarleton very coolly looked up at him with a smile 
and said, " You have missed it for this time, my lad," and 
wheeling his horse, joined the rest of his troop, who were 
on the retreat. 

It were perhaps difficult to select the brave from a body 
of men who were all brave, but it is not invidious to say 
that there was not a man of more fearless courage in the 
corps than Lieutenant Manning of the Legion infantry. At 
the battle of Eutaw, commanding his platoon to charge, he 
rushed on in his usual reckless manner, without stopping or 
looking behind him, until he was brought up by a large 
stone-house, into which the Royal York Volunteers, under 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 



79 



Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger, were retiring-. The British were 
on all sides, and no American soldier within two hundred 
yards of him. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw 
himself upon a British officer, and seizing him by the collar, 
wrested his sword from his grasp, exclaiming, in a harsh 
voice, "You are my prisoner, sir." Interposing him be- 
tween the enemy and himself, as a shield from the heavy fire 
pouring from the windows, he then very coolly and deliber- 
ately backed out of danger. The prisoner, who was not 
deemed by his brother officers a prodigy of valor, pomp- 
ously enumerating his rank and titles, which Manning occa- 
sionally interrupted with : " You are right — you are right — 
you're just the man, sir. You shall preserve me from dan- 
ger, and rest assured I'll take good care oi you'' 

Manning had retreated some distance from the house 
when he saw his friend. Captain Joyett, of the Virginia line, 
engaged in single combat with a British officer. The Ameri- 
can was armed with a sword, while the Briton was defend- 
ing himself with a bayonet. As the American approached, 
the Englishman made a thrust with the bayonet, which 
Joyett successfully parried with his sword, when both of 
them dropping their arms which they could not wield in so 
close an encounter, simultaneously clinched, and being men 
of great and nearly equal bodily strength, they were soon 
engaged in a desperate and deadly struggle. While thus 
engaged, an English grenadier, seeing the danger of his 
officer, ran up and with his bayonet made a lunge, which 
luckily missing Joyett's body, passed only through the 
skirts of his coat, but the bayonet becoming entangled in the 
folds, upon its withdrawal dragged both of the combatants 
together to the ground. The soldier having disengaged it. 



3o THE PARTISAN LEGION 

was about deliberately to transfix Joyett by a second thrust, 
when Manning, seeing- the danger of his friend, without be- 
ing sufificiently near in the crisis to assist him, called out, 
as he hurried up, in an authoritative tone, " You would not 
murder the gentleman, you brute!" The grenadier sup- 
posing himself addressed by one of his own officers, sus- 
pended the contemplated blow and turned towards the 
speaker, but before he could recover from his surprise, 
Manning cut him across the eyes with his sword, while 
Joyett, disengaging himself from his opponent, snatched up 
the musket, and with one blow laid him dead with the butt, 
the valiant prisoner whom Manning had dragged along, 
and who invariably asserted that he had been captured by 
"Joyett, a huge Virginian," instead of Manning, who was a 
small man, standing a horror-struck spectator of the tragedy. 
An equally brave man was Sergeant Ord, of Manning's com- 
pany. In the surprise of the British at Georgetown, when 
a company of the Legion infantry had captured a house with 
its enclosures, the enemy made an attempt to regain it, the 
commanding officer calling out to his men: " Rush on, my 
brave fellows; they are only militia, and have no bayonets." 
Ord placing himself in front of the gate as they attempted 
to enter, laid six of them in succession dead at his feet, 
accompanying each thrust with, " Oh ! no bayonets here — 
none, to be sure ! " following up his strokes with such rapid- 
ity that the party were obliged to give up the attempt and 
retire. 

But perhaps there could have been no two characters in 
the corps more the perfect antipodes of each other than the 
two surgeons of the cavalry, Irvine and Skinner, for while 
Irvine was entirely regardless of his person, and frequently 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 



8i 



found engaged sword in hand, in the thickest of the fight, 
where his duty by no means called him, Skinner was as in- 
variably found in the rear, cherishing his loved person from 
the threatened danger. Indeed, he was a complete counter- 
part of old Falstaff — the same fat and rotund person, the same 
lover of good cheer and good wine, and entertaining the 




same aversion to exposing his dear body to the danger of 
missiles or cuts ; not only was he a source of fun in himself, 
" but he was the cause of it in others." He asserted that his 
business was in the rear — to cure men, not to kill them ; and 
when Irvine was wounded at the charge of Quinby's bridge, 
he refused to touch him until he had dressed the hurts of 
the meanest of the soldiers, saying that Matthew Irvine was 



82 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

served perfectly right, and had no business to be engaged 
out of his vocation. 

At the night alarm at Ninety-six, the Colonel, hasten- 
ing forward to ascertain the cause, met the doctor in 
full retreat, and, stopping him, addressed him with: " Where 
so fast, doctor? Not frightened, I hope?" " No, Colonel," 
replied Skinner, " not frightened ; but, I confess, most 
infernally alarmed." His eccentricities extended not alone 
to his acts, but to everything about him. Among other 
peculiarities, he wore his beard long and unshorn, and 
on being asked by a brother officer why he did so, he 
replied : " That is a secret between Heaven and myself, 
which no human impertinence shall ever penetrate." Like 
Falstaff, and with similar success, he considered himself the 
admired of the fair sex. "Ay," said he to Captain Carnes of 
the infantry ; "Ay, Carnes, I have an eye ! " Yet Skinner was 
by no means a man to be trifled with, for he was not devoid 
of a certain sort of courage, as he had proved in half a dozen 
duels, in one of which he had killed his man. When asked 
how it was, that he was so careful of his person in action, 
when he had shown so plainly that he was not deficient in 
courage, he replied : " I consider it very arrogant in 
a surgeon, whose business it is to cure, to be aping the 
demeanor and duty of a commissioned officer, and I 
am no more indisposed to die than other gentlemen, but 
have an utter aversion to the noise and tumult of 
battle; it stuns and stupefies me." On one occasion, when 
the Legion was passing through a narrow defile, the 
center was alarmed by the drums of the infantry beating to 
arms in front. Skinner, with the full sense of what was due 
to himself, whirled about, and giving his horse a short turn 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 83 

by the bridle, brought him down on his back in the middle 
of the defile, completel}^ blocking it up and preventing either 
egress or ingress, relief or retreat. The infantry and cavalry, 
which had passed the gorge, immediately deployed on the 
hill in front, while the remainder of the Legion, galloping 
up, were completely severed by this singular and unexpected 
obstruction, until Captain Egglestone, dismounting some of 
his strongest troopers, succeeded in dragging the horse out 
of the defile by main force. It turned out that the alarm 
was false, otherwise the doctor's terror might have caused 
the destruction of one-half of the corps. 

But to recur to the incident brought to mind by the howl- 
ing of the wolf. When the Legion was on its march to form 
a junction with Marion, on the little Pedee, it one night 
encamped in a large field on the southern side of a stream, 
with the main road in front. The night passed on very 
quietly, until about two or three in the morning, when the 
officer of the day reported that a strange noise had been 
heard by the picket in front, on the great road, resembling 
the noise of men moving through the adjoining swamp. 
While he was yet speaking, the sentinel in that quarter 
fired his piece, which was immediately followed by the 
bugle calling in the horse patrols, the invariable custom 
upon the approach of an enemy. The drums instantly 
beat to arms, and the troops arranged for defence. The 
sentries, on being questioned, all concurred in the same 
account, "and one patrol of horse asserted that they had 
heard horsemen concealing with the greatest care their 
advance." The commander was in great perplexity, for 
he knew that he was not within striking distance of any 
large body of the enemy, and that Marion was at least two 



84 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

days' distance in advance ; but soon a sentinel in another 
direction fired, and the same report was brought in from 
him ; and it was apparent, however unaccountable, that the 
enemy was present. A rapid change in the formation of the 
troops was made to meet the attack in this quarter, but it 
was hardly accomplished before the fire of a third sentinel, 
in a different direction, communicated the intelligence of 
danger from another quarter. Feelings of intense anxiety 
were now aroused, and preparations were made for a gen- 
eral assault, as soon as light should allow it to be made. 
The pickets and sentinels held their stations, the horse 
patrols were called in, and the corps changed its position 
in silence, and with precision, upon every new communica- 
tion, with the combined object of keeping the fires between 
them and the enemy, and the horse in the rear of the in- 
fantry. 

While thus engaged, another and rapid discharge by the 
sentinels, on the line of the great road, plainly indicated 
that the enemy were in force, and that, with full understand- 
ing of their object, they had surrounded them. It was also 
evident that there must be a large body of the enemy, from 
covering ^n large a segment of the circle around them. It 
was equally apparent that they could expect no aid from 
any quarter, and, relying upon themselves, the corps await- 
ed, in extreme anxiety, the scene which the day was to usher 
upon them. 

The commander passed along the line of infantry and 
cavalry, in a low tone urging upon them the necessity of pro- 
found silence, reminding them that in the approaching contest 
they must sustain their high reputation, and expressing his 
confidence, that, with their accustomed bravery, they would 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 85 

be able to cut their way through all opposing obstacles, and 
reach the Pedee. His address was answered by whispers 
of applause, and having formed the cavalry and infantry 
into two columns, he awaited anxiously the break of day, to 
give the signal for action. It soon appeared, and the col- 
umns advanced on the great road ; infantry in front, baggage 
in the center, and cavalry in the rear. As soon as the head 
of the column reached the road, the van officer, proceeding 
a few hundred yards, received the same account that had 
been given from the sentinel that had fired last. 

The enigma remained unexplained, and no enemy being 
in view, there could be but little doubt that the attack was 
to be from ambushment, and the column moved slowly on, 
expecting every moment to receive their fire. But the van 
officer's attention having been accidentally attracted, he * 
examined, and found along the road the tracks of a large 
pack of wolves. The mystery was now solved ; it was evi- 
dent that the supposed enemy was no other than the pack 
of wild beasts, which, turned from their route by the fire of 
the sentinels, had passed still from point to point in a wide 
circuit, bent upon the attainment of their object. A quan- 
tity of provisions had been stored some time previously on 
their line of march, but having become spoiled, it was aban- 
doned in the vicinity of the night's encampment, and the 
wolves had been disturbed by the videttes, in the nightly 
progress to their regale. The agitation instantly subsided, 
and wit and merriment flashed on all sides, " every one ap_ 
pearing anxious to shift the derision from himself upon his 
neighbor, the commandant himself coming in for his share ' 
and as it was the interest of the many to fix the stigma on 
the few, the corps unanimously charged the officer of the 



86 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

day, the guards, the patrols and pickets, with gross 
stupidity, hard bordering upon cowardice ;" nevertheless, 
they were none the less relieved by the happy termina- 
tion of an adventure attended by so many circumstances 
naturally alarming, and it long passed as an excellent joke 
in the Legion, under the title of the " Wolf reconnoiter." 

The music sounded merrily, and the column marched on, 
elate with the fun and novelty of the adventure ; and of the 
buglers, none blew a more cheery strain than little Jack 
Ellis, the bugler of Armstrong's troop. He w^as a fine boy, 
small and intelligent, as well as young and handsome, and a 
general favorite in the Legion, Poor little fellow ! he met 
his death under circumstances peculiarly tragic and cruel, 
not long after. When the Southern army, under Greene, 
was slowly making its masterly retreat before Cornwallis, 
the Legion formed part of the rear-guard, and was conse- 
quently almost continually in sight of the van of the enemy, 
commanded by Brigadier-General O'Hara. The duty de- 
volving upon it, severe in the day, was extremely so in the 
night, for numerous patrols and pickets were constantly 
required to be on the alert, to prevent the enemy from 
taking advantage of the darkness to get near the main army 
by circuitous routes, so that one-half of the troops of the 
rear-guard were alternately put on duty day and night, and 
the men were not able to get more than six hours' sleep out 
of the forty-eight. But the men were in fine spirits, not- 
withstanding the great fatigue to which they were subject- 
ed. They usually, at the break of day, hurried on, to gain 
as great a distance in advance as possible, that they might 
secure their breakfast, the only meal during the rapid and 
hazardous retreat. One drizzly and cold morning, the offi- 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 87 

cers and dragoons, in pursuance of this custom, had hurried 
on to the front, and just got their corn cakes and meat on 
the coals, when a countryman, mounted on a small and 
meager pony, came galloping up, and hastily asking for the 
commanding officer, informed him that the British col- 
umn, leaving the main line of march, were moving obliquely 
in a different direction, and that, discovering the manoeuvre 
from a field where he was burning brush, he had run home, 
caught the first horse he could lay his hands upon, and hur- 
ried along with the information. Unwilling to believe the 
report of the countryman, although he could not well doubt 
it, and reluctant to disturb so materially the comfort of the 
men as to deprive them of the breakfast for which they 
were waiting with keen appetites, the commander ordered 
Captain Armstrong to take one section of horse, accompan- 
ied by the countryman, to return on the route, and having 
reconnoitered, to make his report. 

Circumstances, however, strengthening him in the belief 
that the information of the countryman was correct, he took 
a squadron of cavalry and followed on to the support of 
Armstrong, whom he overtook at no great distance ahead. 
Perceiving no sign of the enemy, he again concluded that 
the countryman was mistaken. He therefore directed Arm- 
strong to take the guide and three dragoons, and to advance 
still further on the road, while he returned with the squad- 
ron to finish their breakfast. The countryman, mounted on 
his sorry nag, protested against being thus left to take care 
of himself, asserting that, though the dragoons on their spir- 
ited and powerful horses were sure of safety, it pursued, he, 
on his jaded hack, was equally sure of being taken. The 
Colonel acknowledged the danger of the friendly guide, dis- 



88 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

mounted the little bugler, and giving the countryman his 
horse, placed Ellis upon the hack, sending him on in 
front to report to the commanding, officer. After having 
returned a short distance, the squadron entered the woods 
on the roadside, and the dragoons leisurely proceeded to 
finish their breakfast; but they had hardly got it out of their 
haversacks when a firing of musketry was heard, and, almost 
immediately after, the clatter of horses' hoofs coming on at 
full gallop. The next moment, Armstrong, with his dragoons 
and the countryman, came in sight, pursued by a troop of 
Tarleton's dragoons at the top of their speed. 

The commander saw Armstrong with his small party 
well in front and hard in hand, and felt no anxiety about 
them, as he knew that their horses were so superior to those 
of the enemy that they were perfectly safe, but the danger 
of the bugler, who could be but little ahead, immediately 
caused him serious uneasiness. Wishing, however, to let the 
British squadron get as far from support as possible, he con- 
tinued in the woods for a few moments, intending to inter- 
pose in time to save the boy. Having let them get a suffi- 
cient distance, and assuring himself that there was nothing 
coming up to their support, he put the squadron in motion 
and appeared on the road, but only in time to see the enraged 
dragoons overtake and sabre the poor little suppliant, as 
he in vain implored for quarter. Infuriated at the sight, he 
gave orders to charge, and the English officer had barely 
time to form, when the squadron was upon them like a whirl- 
wind, killing, prostrating and unhorsing almost the whole of 
the force in an instant, while the captain and the few left un- 
hurt endeavored to escape. Ordering Lieutenant Lewis to 
follow on in pursuit, with strict orders to give no quarter. 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 89 

an order dictated by the sanguinary act that they had just 
witnessed, the commander placed the dying boy in the arms 
of two of the dragoons, directing them to proceed onwards 
to the camp, and immediately after pushed on to the support 
of Lewis, whom he soon met returning Avith the English cap- 
tain and several of his dragoons, prisoners, the officer unhurt, 
but the men severely cut in the face, neck and shoulders. 
Reprimanding Lewis on the spot for disobedience of orders, 
he peremptorily charged the British officer with the atrocity 
that they had just witnessed, and ordered him to prepare for 
instant death. The officer urged that he had in vain en- 
deavored to save the boy, that his dragoons were intoxicated 
and would not obey his orders, and he begged that he might 
not be sacrificed, stating that in the slaughter of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Buford's command he had used the greatest exer- 
tions, and succeeded in saving the lives of many of the 
Americans. This in some measure mollified the commander, 
but just then overtaking the speechless and dying boy, ex- 
piring in the arms of the soldiers, his bright and handsome 
face changed in the ghastly agony of death, he returned 
with unrelenting sternness to his first decision, and informed 
the Englishman that he should execute him in the next vale 
through which they were to pass, and, furnishing him with 
a pencil and paper, desired him to make such note as he 
wished to his friends, which he pledged him his word 
should be sent to the British General. The ill-fated soldier 
proceeded to write, when the British van approaching in 
sight, the prisoner was sent on to Colonel Williams in front, 
who, ignorant of the murder and the determination to make 
an example of him, in his turn forwarded him on to head- 
quarters, thus luckily saving his life. Eighteen of the Brit- 



90 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

ish dragoons fell in the charg-e, and were buried by Corn- 
wallis as he came up, but the Americans had time to do no 
more than lay the body of the poor little bugler iii the 
woods on the side of the road, trusting to the charity of 
the country people to inter it, when they were obliged to 
resume their retreat. It should be borne in mind that the 
commander's humane disposition could only be excited to 
such summary vengeance by the cruel and unwarrantable 
murder that they had just witnessed, and by the frequent 
acts of atrocity which had been repeatedl}^ enacted by this 
same corps. 

Perhaps the fated destiny which frequently appears to 
await the soldier, hanging over him like a shield while he 
passes through the most desperate danger, until the ap- 
pointed hour arrives, was never more apparent than in the 
case of Lieutenant-Colonel Webster, of the British army, in 
this same retreat. When the rear of the American army, 
composed, as has been observed, principally by the Legion, 
had passed the Reedy Fork, the British van, under the com- 
mand of Webster, endeavored to ford the river and bring 
them into action, a point which Cornwallis was anxious to 
attain, but which was entirely foreign to the plan of Greene, 
whose object was to wear out his pursuers. Under the cover 
of a dense fog the British had attained a short distance of 
the Legion before they were discovered. They made their 
appearance on the opposite bank of the river, and, after halt- 
ing a few moments, descended the hill and approached the 
water; but, receiving a heavy fire of musketry and rifles, they 
fell back, and quickly re-ascending, were again rallied on 
the margin of the bank. Colonel Webster rode up, calling 
upon the soldiers in a loud voice to follow, and rushing 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 



91 



down the hill at their head, amid a galling fire poured from 
the Legion troops, plunged into the water. In the woods 
occupied by the riflemen was an old log school-house, a lit- 
tle to the right of the ford. The mud stuffed between the 
logs had mostly fallen out, and the apertures admitted the 
use of rifles with ease. In this house were posted five and 
twenty select marksmen from the mountain militia, with 
orders to forego engaging in the general action, and direc- 
tions to hold themselves in reserve for any particular object 
which might present. " The attention of this party being 
attracted by Webster, as he plunged into the water, they 
singled him out as their mark ; and as he advanced slowly, 
the stream being deep, the bottom rugged, and some of his 
soldiers holding on by his stirrup-leathers, they one by one 
discharged their rifles at him, each man sure of knock- 
ing him over, and, having reloaded, eight or nine of them 
emptied their guns at him a second time; yet, strange to 
relate, neither horse nor rider received a single ball. The 
twenty-five marksmen were celebrated for their superior skill, 
and it was a common amusement for them to place an apple 
on the end of a ramrod and hold it out at arm's length, as a 
mark for their comrades to fire at, when many balls would 
pass through the apple ; yet the British officer, mounted on 
a stout horse, slowly moving through a deep water-course, 
was singled out and fired at thirty-two or three times suc- 
cessively, and yet remained untouched, and succeeded in ef- 
fecting a lodgment on the bank, where he formed his troops 
under a heavy fire." This gallant officer and polished gentle- 
man, the favorite of Cornwallis, subsequently fell at the 
battle of Guilford Court-House, not more regretted by his 
brother soldiers than admired by those of the American army. 



92 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

There is nothing more true than, that in war, as in love, 
much depends upon accident, and an alarm is frequently 
conveyed, and a victory won, by circumstances entirely the 
act of chance. As a case in point. In the retreat of the 
British after the battle of Monks'Corner, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Stuart ordered all the arms belonging to the dead and 
wounded to be collected, and when the retreating enemy 
had marched on, they were set fire to by the rear guard. 
As many of the muskets were loaded, an irregular discharge 
followed, resembling the desultory fire which usually pre- 
cedes a battle. The retreating army immediately supposed 
that Greene was up and had commenced an attack on their 
rear, and the dismay and confusion was so great that the 
wagoners cut the traces of their horses and galloped off, 
leaving the wagons on the route. The followers of the army 
fled in like manner, and the terror was rapidly increasing, 
when the cessation of the firing quelled the alarm. 

But the most exciting incident that our fellow voyager 
related, and one which would well merit the attention of 
the painter, was the spirited affair at Quinby's Bridge. 
When the British army in their turn were retreating, Sum- 
ter, Marion and the Legion frequently were able to act in 
concert. The 19th British Regiment, Lt. Col. Coates, hav- 
ing become isolated at Monks' Corner, it was determined to 
fall upon it, and cut it off by surprise before it could obtain 
relief. The British officer having taken the precaution to 
secure the bridge across the Cooper river by a strong de- 
tachment, it became necessary for them to make a long circuit 
through the deep sands, in the hottest part of the summer, be- 
fore they could form a junction with Sumter, whose aid was 
required in the intended attack. The junction was not ef- 



THE PARTI SAX LEGIOX 93 

fected until evening, and the attack was necessarily deferred 
until the following- morning; but about midnight, the whole 
sky becoming illuminated by a great conflagration, it was 
evident that the enemy had taken the alarm. They had set 
fire to the church to destroy the stores, and had decamped 
in silence. By the neglect of the militia, who had deserted 
a bridge at which they were stationed, the enemy had been 
able to draw off, and obtain a considerable distance in ad- 
vance, before their retreat was discovered. The commander 
immediately followed on with the cavalry in pursuit of the 
main body, but was unable to come up with it, until he had 
arrived in the neighborhood of Quinby's Bridge, about 
eighteen miles from Monks' Corner. Upon its first approach, 
he discovered the baggage of the regiment under a rear 
guard of about one hundred men, advancing along a narrow 
road, the margin of which was bordered by a deep swamp 
on both sides. As soon as the cavalry came in view, the 
British officer formed his men across the road, which they 
had hardly effected, when the charge was sounded, and the 
Legion cavalry rushed upon them with drawn swords at 
full gallop. The voice of the British officer was distinctly 
heard "directing his men to fire," and as no charge immedi- 
ately followed, the cavalry officers felt extreme solicitude, 
lest its reservation was meant to make it the more fatal on 
their near approach, for on the narrow road, and in the close 
column in which they were rushing on, a well-directed fire 
would have emptied half of their saddles; but, happily, the 
soldiers, alarmed by the formidable appearance of the cav- 
alry, threw down their arms and supplicated for quarter, 
which the cavalry were most happy to grant them. The 
prisoners being secured, the main body of the cavalry pushed 



Q4 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

on under Armstrong for the bridge, which was still about 
three miles in front, in the hope of cutting off the enemy 
before they could succeed in reaching it. As Armstrong 
came in sight, he found that Coates had passed the bridge, 
and that he was indolently reposing on the opposite side of 
the river, awaiting his rear guard and baggage. He had, 
by way of precaution, taken up the planks from the bridge, 
letting them lie loosely on the sleepers, intending, as soon 
as the rear should have crossed, to destroy it. Seeing the 
enemy with the bridge thus interposed, which he knew 
was contrary to the commandant's anticipations, Armstrong 
drew up, and sent back word to the commander, who was 
still with the prisoners, requesting orders, never communi- 
cating the fact that the bridge was interposed. The adjutant 
soon came galloping back with the laconic answer : " The 
order of the day, sir, is to fall upon the enemy, without re- 
gard to consequences." 

The gallant Armstrong for a moment leaned forward in 
his saddle, towards the adjutant, as if thunder-struck with 
this reflection on his courage ; in the next, his sword glanced 
like a streak of light around his head, and shouting in a voice 
of thunder: "Legion cavalry, charge !" at the head of his 
section he cleared the bridge, the horses throwing off the 
loose planks in every direction ; the next instant, driving the 
soldiers headlong from the howitzer which they had mounted 
at the other end to defend it, he was cutting and slashing in 
the very center of the British regiment, which, taken com- 
pletely by surprise, threw down their arms, retreating in 
every direction. The horses of Armstrong's section had 
thrown off the planks as they cleared the bridge, leaving a 
yawning chasm, beneath which the deep black stream was 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 



95 



rushing turbidly onwards; but Lieutenant Carrington, at 
the head of his section, took the leap and closed with Arm- 
strong, engaged in a desperate personal encounter with 
Lieutenant Colonel Coates, who had barely time to throw 
himself with a few of his officers behind some baggage- 
wagons, where they were parrying the sabre cuts made by 
the dragoons at their heads. Most of the soldiers, alarmed 
at the sudden attack, had abandoned their officers and were 
running across the fields, to shelter themselves in a neigh- 
boring farm-house. The Colonel, by this time, had himself 
got up to the bridge, where O'Neal, with the third section, 
had halted, the chasm having been so much enlarged by Car- 
rington's horses throwing off additional planks, that his horses 
would not take the leap, and seeing the howitzer abandoned, 
and the whole regiment dispersed, except the few officers 
who were defending themselves with their swords, while 
they called upon the flying soldiers for assistance, he pro- 
ceeded to recover and replace the planks. The river 
was deep in mud, and still deeper in water, so that the 
dragoons could neither get a footing to replace the planks, 
nor a firm spot from which they might swim their horses to 
the aid of their comrades. Seeing this posture of affairs, 
some of the bravest of the British soldiers began to hurry 
back to the assistance of their officers, and Armstrong and 
Carrington, being unable to sustain with only one troop of 
dragoons so unequal a combat, they abandoned the contest, 
forcing their way down the great road into the woods on 
the margin of the stream, in their effort to rejoin the corps. 
Relieved from the immediate danger, Coates hastened back 
to the bridge and opened a fire from the deserted howitzer 
upon the soldiers, w^ho were fruitlessly striving to repair 



q6 the partisan legion 

the bridge, and being armed only with their sabres, which 
the chasm made perfectly useless, as they could not reach 
the enemy across it, they were also forced to give up the 
attempt, and retire without the range of the fire from the 
gun. 

Marion shortly after coming up, in conjunction with the 
Legion, marched some distance down the banks, where they 
were enabled to ford the stream, and effect a passage. In 
the edge of the evening, they reached the farm-house, but 
found that Coates had fortified himself within it, with his 
howitzer, and was thus impregnable to cavalry. "While 
halting in front, Armstrong and Carrington came up with 
their shattered sections. Neither of the officers were hurt, 
but many of the bravest dragoons were killed, and still more 
wounded. Some of their finest fellows — men who had passed 
through the whole war, esteemed and admired — had fallen 
in this honorable but unsuccessful attempt." Being without 
artillery, and within striking distance of Charleston, they 
were obliged, fatigued as they were, to commence their re- 
treat. Placing the wounded in the easiest posture for con- 
veyance, and laying the dead on the pommels of their sad- 
dles, the Legion counter-marched fifteen miles; at its close, 
burying in sadness and grief, in one common sepulchre, the 
bodies of those that had fallen. 

These anecdotes of the Legion are but a few of the many 
stirring and spirited narrations with which Smith whiled 
away the time, as we glided along on our return up the 
river. His own observations and adventures in traveling 
over the world were not wanting for our amusement, for, 
with a mind well prepared for its enjoyment, he had passed 
the years that had intervened, since last I saw him, in trav- 



THE PARTISAN LEGION 



97 



eling leisurely over Europe and the East. With the true 
philosophy of life, calling all men brothers, and restrained 
by no narrow prejudices of country or habit, he had entered 
eagerly into the manners and participated in the amusements 
of those around him. First after the hounds in England, he 
shouted "tally ho!" with all the enthusiasm of the veriest 
sportsman in the hunt; while his voice was heard equally 
loud and jovial in the wild and half-frantic chorus of the 
drinking and smoking students of Germany. He scrupled 
not to wear his beard long, and partake of the hard black 
loaf in the cabin of the Russian boor, while, with equal 
equanimity, he wore his turban, and smoked his chibouque, 
cross-legged in the caffarets of Turkey. He climbed the 
huge Pyramids, and their dark and silent chambers echoed 
the sounds of his voice, as he called on Cheops, Isis and 
Orus ; and, kneeling in the gorgeous mosque of Omar, he 
worshipped the true God, while the muzzeim froni its min- 
arets was proclaiming that Mahomet was his prophet. He 
had luxuriated amid the never-dying works of the great 
masters at Florence, and, lulled by the harmonious chant 
of the gondolier, had swept over the moonlit lagoons of 
Venice. He had whirled in all the gaiety of living Paris, 
and measured with careful steps the silent streets of dead 
Herculaneum and Pompeii. He had stood amid the awful 
stillness, on the glittering ice-covered summits of Mont 
Blanc, and looked fearlessly down into the great roaring 
caverns of fire boiling in the crater of Vesuvius — but now, 
there was a sadness about his heart which rarely lighted up, 
and, as I have observed, it was only under momentary ex- 
citement that he blazed into brilliant entertainment. 

As the fresh breeze wafted us swiftly onwards, Venus, 



98 THE PARTISAN LEGION 

amid the stars trembling in unnumbered myriads, rivalled 
with her silvery rays the great round-orbed moon, sailing 
joyously in her career high in the heavens above us, and 
soon the bright beacon on the plantation shore, lighted for 
our guidance, shone steadily over the dark water, and ere 
long we were all quietly seated at the supper-table, with our 
beatiful hostess at its head — again at Tom's cottage on the 
banks of the Potomac. 



1 



HUDSON RIVER. 




HERE we are, met again, all booted and spurred, and 
ready for another journey. Come; let us make the 
most of our time on this mundane sphere ; for, verily, 
we are but two of the automata of the great moving pano- 
rama so rapidly hastening o'er its surface; two of the 
unnumbered millions, who, lifted from their cradles, are 
hurrying with like equal haste towards the great dark cur- 
tain of the future, where, drawing its gloomy folds aside, 
they shall pass behind and disappear forever. Therefore 
let us hasten ; for though some of us complacently imagine 



lOO HUDSON RIVER 

that we are bound on our own special road and chosen 
journey, yet, surely, we are but traveling the path which has 
been marked out for us by an all-seeing Providence; and 
though, like soldiers, we may be marching, as we suppose, 
to good billets and snug quarters, yet, perhaps, before the 
day's route be closed, we may be plunged into the centre of 
the battle-field, with sad curtailment of our history, Tem- 
pus fugit ! Therefore let us hasten ; for in a few short years 
some modern Hamlet o'er our tomb-stones thus shall mor- 
alize : " Here be two fellows tucked up right cosily in their 
last quarters, ' at their heads a grass-green turf, and at their 
heels a stone.' Hump ! for all their stillness, I'll warrant 
me they've strutted their mimic stage, and flaunted with the 
best; they've had their ups and downs, their whims and fan- 
cies, their schemes and projects, their loves and hates ; have 
been elated with vast imaginings, and depressed to the very 
ocean's depths ; and now their little day and generation 
passed, they've settled to their rest. The school-boy, astride 
on one's memento, with muddy heels kicks out his epitaph, 
while the other's name is barely visible among the tiiistle's 
aspiring tops ; yet both alike have rendered, with the whole 
human family, the same brief epitome of history. ' They 
laughed ; they groaned ; they wept ; and here they are ;' for 
such are but the features of bright, confiding youth, stern 
manhood's trials, and imbecile old age." And this same sage 
Hamlet's right ; therefore, without more ado, let us get 
us on our travels. 

Now Westzvard shall lie our course. Here come the 
cars. Quick — jump in ! We are off. We fly over the 
bridges, and through the tunnels ; the rail fences spin by in 
ribands ; the mile-stones play leap-frog ; the abutments dash 



HUDSON RIVER lOI 

by us. Screech ! the cattle jump like mad out of our way. 
Already at Jersey City? We paddle across. Ay, here we 
are, just in time for the steamer. What a pandemonium of 
racket, and noise, and confusion ! " All aboard ! " Tinkle, 
tinkle. The walking-beam rises, the heavy wheels splash, 
we shoot out into the stream, we make a graceful curve, 
and, simultaneously with five other steamers, stretch like 
race-horses up the majestic Hudson. 

How beautifully the Narrows, and the ocean, open to our 
view, and the noble bay, studded with its islands, and for- 
tresses, and men-of-war, with frowning batteries and check- 
ered sides! In graceful amity float the nations' emblems — 
the Tri-color, Red Cross, Black Eagle, Stars and Stripes. 
But we take the lead. Fire up ; fire up, engineer ; her name- 
sake cuts the air not more swiftly than our fleet boat her ele- 
ment. Still as a mirror lies the tranquil water. The dark 
Palisades above us, with fringed and picturesque outline, are 
reflected on its polished surface; and the lordly sloops — see 
how lazily they roll and pitch on the long undulating swell 
made by our progress, their scarlet pennons quivering on its 
surface as it regains its smoothness. 

How rich and verdant extend thy shores, delightful river! 
Oh! kindly spirit! Crayon, Diedrick, Irving, whate'er we 
call thee, with what delightful Indian summer of rustic 
story, of dreamy legend, hast thou invested them? Lo ! as 
we slide along, what moving panorama presents itself! 
Phlegmatic Mynheers, in sleepy Elysium evolve huge 
smoke-wreaths of the fragrant weed, as they watch thy placid 
stream ; blooming Katrinas, budding like roses out of their 
bodices, coquette with adoring Ichabods ; sturdy, broad- 
breeched beaux, sound " boot and saddle," Roaring " Broms " 



I02 



HUDSON RIVER 



dash along on old " Gun-powders," "Headless horsemen" 
thunder onwards through haunted hollows, heads on saddle- 
bow. Dancing, laughing negroes ; irate, rubicund trumpet- 
ers ; huge Dutch merry-makings, groaning feasts, and hen- 
pecked " Rips," pass in review before us. In the evening twi- 
light, thy beacon, Stony Point, throws far its streaming rays 
o'er the darkening scenery, different, I ween, when mid mid- 




STONY POINT SENTRY. 

night mist and stillness, mid cannon-blaze and roar, " Mad 
Anthony's " attacking columns simultaneously struck the flag- 
staff in thy centre. The sparks stream rocket-like from our- 
chimneys, as we enter your dark embrace, ye highlands! 
Hark! the roll of the drum, as we round the bend. Thy 
beautiful plateau. West Point, with its gallant spirits, is 
above us. 



HUD SOX RIVER 



103 



The thunder of thy bowling- balls, old Hudson, we hear 
as we pass the gorges of the Catskills. Hyde Park, thou 
glancest by us. The villas of the Rensselaers and Livings- 
tons fllit 'mid their green trees. Thy cottages, oh Kinder- 
hook, the Overslaugh, rush by, and now we are at Albany. 
Albany, Rochester, Utica, by smoking steam-car, we are de- 
livered from you. Auburn, we breathe among thy shady 
walks — and now, for a moment, Buffalo, we rest with thee. 
All hail to thee, thou city of the Bison Bull ! 



NIGHT ATTACK ON FORT ERIE. 

(August 14th, 1814.) 



HOSTLER ! bring up the horses ! We will cross to the 
Canadian shore and ride leisurely o'er its battle- 
grounds. Tighten the girths, John ; take up another 
hole. So; nevermind the stirrup. Jump; I'm in my sad- 
dle. Are you ready? Aye; well broken is that gray of 
yours ; he has a good long trot ; how easy it makes your rise 
in the saddle, and how graceful is the gait. But here we are 
at the ferry. Now we cross thy stream, Niagara ! Now we 
stand on British ground ! Generous and gallant blood has 
deeply stained its soil! Observe these crumbling works ; 
the old stone fort facing the river; the remains of ramparts 
and trenches; here a bastion, further on a redoubt; there 
again lines and earth-works, forming a continuous circle of 
defence, but all now fast sinking to their original level. 
These are, or rather were, the fortress and defences of " Fort 
Erie." When, some years since, I rode over the ground 
with our kind and excellent friend, the Major, I listened 
with great interest to his narration of the part of the cam- 
paign acted upon this spot and the adjoining country. I 
will repeat it to you as we ride over it. Jump your horse 
upon this decaying mound ; it was a bastion. 

Standing on this Bastion, " Here," said the Major, " we 
had thrown up our lines, making the defences as strong as 



NIGHT A TTACK OX FORT ERIE 



105 



practicable. The British had 
also erected formidable works 
about half a mile in front, (the 
forest intervening) composed of 
a large stone battery on their 
left, and two strong redoubts, 
from which they kept up an in- 
cessant discharge of shot and 
shells for several successive days, 
which was returned by us with 
equal vigor. At length a shell 
from their batteries, having fallen 
upon it, blew up one of our 
small magazines, but with trifiing 
injury to the rest of the de- 
fences. They greatly overrated 
the damage, and were elated 
with their success. General 
Gaines received secret informa- 
tion that they intended to carry 
the works by storm on the fol- \ 
lowing night. That night, said M'; 
the Major, I shall not soon for- \r * 
get. It set in intensely dark and 
cloudy ; extremely favorable to 
the design of the enemy. Every- 
thing was put in the fullest state 
of preparation to receive them. 
The men, enthusiastically await- 
ing the attack, were ordered to 
lie on their arms. Extended 




1 06 NIGHT A TTA CK ON FOR T ERIE 

along the lines, and manning the fort and bastion, our little 
army, in perfect silence, awaited their coming. 

" The forest had been cleared about three hundred yards 
in front of our works; beyond that were, as you see, the 
woods. As the night wore on, we listened with earnestness 
to every sound. A little after midnight, we heard on the 
dry leaves the stealthy sound of footsteps — rustle — rustle — 
rustle. We listened ; they came nearer. A short, sharp chal- 
lenge : ' Who goes there ? ' issued from that farther redoubt. 
The footsteps ceased, as if irresolute to advance or recede, 
and all was still. Another quick challenge, a rattle of the mus- 
ket as it fell into the hollow of the hand, followed the quick 
reply : — ' Picket guard, forced in by the enemy's advance.' 
' Back, guard ! back to your posts instantly, or we will 
fire upon you,' rung the stern voice of our commanding 
officer. The footsteps of the stragglers slowly receded, and 
entire stillness again obtained. It was as profound as the 
darkness ; not even the hum of an insect rose upon the ear. 
We laid our heads upon the ramparts, and listened with all 
our faculties. We listened. Perhaps half an hour elapsed, 
when we imagined we heard the dead, heavy sound of a 
large body of men — tramp — tramp — tramp — advancing 
through the pitchy darkness. A few moments passed, a 
brisk scattering fire, and the pickets came in in beautiful 
order, under the brave subaltern in command. The meas- 
ured tread of disciplined troops became apparent. Every 
sense was stretched to the utmost in expectancy ; every eye 
endeavored to fathom the darkness in front, when, from 
Towson's battery, that towards the river, glanced a volley 
of musketry, and in another instant the whole line of the 
works, bastion, redoubt, and rampai-t, streamed forth one 



NIGHT A TTACK OX FORT ERIE 



107 



living sheet of flame. Two eighteens, mounted where we 
stand, were filled to the muzzle with grape, cannister, and 
bags of musket-bullets ; imagine their havoc. The enemy 
came on with loud shouts and undaunted bravery. By the 
continued glare of our discharges, we could see dense dark 
masses of men, moving in columns to three separate points 
of attack upon our works. Our artillery and musketry 








poured on them, as they advanced, a continual stream of fire, 
rolling and glancing from angles, bastions, and redoubts. 
Repulsed, they were re-formed by their officers, and brought 
again to the charge, to be again repulsed. At such times, 
hours fly like minutes. A life appears concentrated to a 
moment. We had been engaged perhaps an hour — perhaps 
three — when I heard in that bastion of the Fort, a hundred 



1 08 NIGHT A TTA CK ON FOR T ERIE 

feet from me, above the uproar, a quick, furious struggle, as 
if of men engaged in fierce death-fight ; a clashing of bay- 
onets, and sharp pistol shots, mixed with heavy blows, and 
short quick breathing, such as you may have heard men 
make in violent exertion, in cutting wood with axes, or other 
severe manual labor. The conflict, though fierce, was short; 
the assailants were repelled. Those that gained a footing 
were bayoneted, or thrown back over the parapet. In a few 
moments, I heard again the same fierce struggle, and again 
followed the like result and stillness — if stillness could be 
said to exist under continual roar of musketr}- and artillery. 
A third time it rose, sudden and desperate ; it ceased ; and 
presently a clear loud voice rose high above the battle from 
the bastion : * Stop firing in front there ; you are firing on 
your friends.' An instant cessation followed. We were 
deceived. In another moment, the voice of an officer, with 
startling energy, replied : ' Aye, aye ; we'll stop : give it to 
them, men; give it to them!' — and the firing, renewed, was 
continued with redoubled fury. The head of the centre col- 
umn, composed of eight hundred picked men, veterans 
of Egypt, led by Lieut.-Col. Drummond in person, after 
three several assaults, had gained possession of the bastion, 
and b}^ that ruse, endeavored to cause a cessation of the 
fire ; a result that might have been fatal to us, had not the 
deception been so soon discerned. But the prize was of 
little value, as the bastion was commanded by the interior 
of the works, and the men, under cover of the walls of an 
adjoining barrack, poured into the gorge, that led from it, 
a continued storm of musketry. The firing continued with 
unabated fury. The enemy, repulsed with great loss in 
every attack, was unsuccessful on every point save that 



XIGHT A TTACK ON FORT ERIE 



109 



bastion, the possession of which they still retained ; when I 
heard a groaning roll and shake of the earth, and instantly 
the bastion, bodies of men, timber, guns, earth and stones, 
were blown up in the air like a volcano, making every thing 
in the glare as clear as noonday. A descending timber 
dashed one of my artillerA-men to pieces within a foot of my 
shoulder. Profound darkness and silence followed. Naught 
but the groans of the wounded and dying were heard. As 
if by mutual consent, the fighting ceased, and the enemy 
withdrew, repulsed on every side, save from the parapet 
which they purchased for their grave.^ A large quantity 
of fixed ammunition had been placed in the lower part, and 
a stray wad, falling upon it, had blown them all up together ; 
My duty required that I should immediately repair the 
bastion, and most horrible was the sight ; bodies burnt and 
mutilated, some of them still pulsating with life, among 
them Lieut.-Colonel Drummond, the leader of the attack.^ 
There he lay, in the morning light, stark and stiff, extended 
on the rampart, a ball having passed through his breast. 
His war-cry of ' No quarter to the damned Yankees' — his 
own death-warrant — was long remembered against his 
countrymen. The enemy did not resume the attack, but, 
retiring to their entrenched camp, strengthened their works, 
and prepared to make their approach by regular advances." 
But come ; spur on ; we have far to ride ; spur on. Here 
we are, upon their works. Here is the stone water-battery, 
and there the two strong redoubts, and back of them the re- 
mains of their lines, and deep intrenchments. These are the 
works which were carried in the memorable and desperate 
sortie of Fort Erie. The right by General Miller, Aspinwall 
and Trimble, and the left by the gallant Porter and his vol- 



I I O NIGHT A TTA CK ON FOR T ERIE 

unteers, under the immediate command of Davis, and the Reg- 
ulars led by Gibson and Wood. " Here, on the left," quoth 
the Major, " fell my gallant, my accomplished friend, Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Wood, at the head of his column. He was one of 
the most brilliant officers in the service, and as beautiful as a 
girl. I often gazed with astonishment at the desperate daring 
that characterized him in action ; here he fell ; he was bay- 
oneted to death on the ground, on this spot" — and the Ma- 
jor's voice quivered, and he turned his face from me, for the 
cruel death of his dear friend was too much for his manhood. 
His body was never found. His monument rests near the 
flag-staff at West Point. Peace to his gallant spirit ! The 
stars of his country can wave over no braver of her sons. 

^ The venerable Jabez Fisk, who was in the fight, in a letter to me 
writes : " Three or four hundred of the enemy had got into the bas- 
tion. At this time an American officer came running up and said: 
' General Gaines, the bastion is full; I can blow them all to hell in a 
minute! ' They both passed back through a stone building, and in 
a short time the bastion and the British were high in the air. Gen- 
eral Gaines soon returned, swinging his hat and shouting, * Hurrah for 
Little York! ' " This was in allusion to the blowing up of the British 
magazine at Little York, when General Pike was killed. — Lossin^. 

^ The enemy was soon repulsed in this quarter. The centre, led 
by Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond, was not long kept in check. It 
approached every assailable point of the fort at once. They brought 
scaling-ladders, and with the greatest coolness and bravery attempted 
to force an entrance over the walls. Captain Williams and Lieuten- 
ants Macdonough and Watmough, in the fort, met them gallantly, and 
twice repulsed them. Then Drummond, taking advantage of the cov- 
ering of a thick pall of gunpowder smoke, which hung low, went 
silently around the ditch, and, with scaling-ladders, ascended to the 
parapet with great celerity, and gained a secure footing there with one 
hundred of the Royal Artillery before any effectual opposition could 
be made. Already the exasperated Drummond, goaded almost to 



NIGHT A TTACK ON FORT ERIE I t I 

madness by the murderous repulses which he had endured, had given 
orders to show no mercy to the "damned Yankees," and had actually 
stationed a body of painted savages near, with instructions to rush into 
the fort, when the regulars should get possession of it, and assist in 
the general massacre. Finding himself now in actual possession of a 
part of the fort, he instantly directed his men to charge upon the gar- 
rison with pike and bayonet, and to "show no mercy." Most of the 
American officers, and many of the men, received deadly wounds. 
Among the former was Lieutenant Macdonough. He was severely 
hurt, and demanded quarter. It was refused by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Drummond. The Lieutenant then seized a hand spike and boldly 
defended himself until he was shot down with a pistol by the mon- 
ster who had refused him mercy, and who often reiterated the order, 
" Give the damned Yankees no quarter ! " He soon met his deserved 
fate, for he was shot through the heart, was severely bayoneted, and 
fell dead by the side of his own victim. — Lossing's Hist. War of iSi 2. 

In the secret orders issued by Lieutenant-General Drummond, 
found in the pockets of Colonel Drummond, was this paragraph: 
" 77/1? Lientenatit-General most strongly recoi?imends the use of the 
bayonet." Just above this paragraph was a blood-stained fracture 
made by the bayonet, an inch in length and half an inch in width. 
There were two other copies of this order issued, one to Lieutenant- 
Colonel Fischer and the other to Colonel Scott. — Lossinz. 



BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE. 




COL. MILLER AT LUNDY S LANE. 



WE cross thy tranquil plains, oh ! Chippewa. Brown, 
Scott, Miller, Jesup, and your gallant comrades ; 
long will this battle-ground your names remember. 
But far different music has resounded through these contin- 
uous woods than the wild bird's carol, the hum of insects, 
and the waving of the breeze that now so gently greets our 
ear. Aye ! yonder is the white house. " There," said the 
Major, "as General Scott, making a forward movement with 
his brigade in the afternoon of the 25th of July, 18 14, came 



BATTLE OF LUND Y'S LANE II3 

in view of it, we saw the court-yard filled with British 
officers, their horses held by orderlies and servants in attend- 
ance. As soon as we became visible to them, the bugles 
sounded to saddle, and in a few moments they were mounted 
and soon disappeared through the woods at full gallop, 
twenty bugles ringing the alarm from different parts of the 
forest. All vanished, as if swallowed by the earth, save an 
elegant veteran officer, who reined up, just out of musket 
shot, and took a leisurely survey of our numbers. Having 
apparently satisfied himself of our force, he raised the 
plumed hat from his head, and bowing gracefully to our cor- 
tege, put spurs to his horse and disappeared with the rest. 
From the occupant of the house we gathered that we were 
about a mile distant from a strong body of the enemy, 
posted on the rising ground just beyond the woods in our 
front. General Scott, turning to one of his escort, said : 
' Be kind enough, sir, to return to Major-General Brown ; 
iniorm him that I have fallen in with the enemy's advance, 
posted in force at Lundys Lane, and that in one-half hour 
I shall have joined battle." ' Order up Ripley with the 
second brigade ; direct Porter to get his volunteers imme- 
diately under arms,' was the brief reply of Major-General 
Brown to my message, and the aids were instantly in their 
saddles, conveying the orders. As I galloped back through 
the woods," continued the Major, "the cannon-shot screaming 
by me, tearing the trees and sending the rail fences in the 
air in their course, warned me that the contest had begun. 
But we are on the battle-ground. There," said the Major, 
"upon the verge of that sloping hill, parallel with the road, 
and through the grave-yard toward the Niagara, was drawn 
up the British line under General Riall, in force three times 



114 BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE 

greater than our brigade ; his right covered with a powerful 
battery of nine pieces of artillery, two of them brass twenty- 
fours. 

" The Eleventh and Twenty-second rQ^\\x\t,\\\.^, first leaving the 
wood, deployed upon the open ground with the coolness 
and regularity of a review, and were soon engaged furiously 
in action ; the fire from the enemy's line, and from the bat- 
tery, which completely commanded the position, opening 
upon them with tremendous effect. Towson, having hur- 
ried up with his guns on the left, in vain endeavored to at- 
tain sufficient elevation to return the fire of their battery. 
The destruction on our side was very great ; the two regi- 
ments fought with consummate bravery. They were severe- 
ly cut up. Their ammunition became exhausted, and the 
officers, nearly all of them, having been killed and wounded, 
they were withdrawn from action ; the few officers remain- 
ing unhurt throwing themselves into the Ninth, which now 
came into action, led by the gallant Colonel Leavenworth. 

" The brunt of the battle now came upon them, and they 
alone sustained it for some time, fighting with unflinching 
bravery, until their numbers were reduced to one-half by the 
fire of the enemy. At this juncture, General Scott galloped 
up with the intention of charging the hill ; but finding them 
so much weakened, altered his intention, entreating them to 
hold their ground until the reinforcements, which were has- 
tening up, should come to their assistance. A momentary 
cessation of the action ensued, while additional forces hur- 
ried up to the aid of each army ; Ripley's brigade, Hindman's 
artillery, and Porter's volunteers, on the part of the Ameri- 
cans, and a strong reinforcement under General Drummond 
on that of the British. Hindman's artillery were attached 



BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE 



115 



to that of Towson, and soon made themselves heard. Por- 
ter's brigade displayed on the left, while Ripley formed on 
the skirts of the wood to the right of Scott's brigade. The 
engagement was soon renewed with augmented vigor, 
General Drummond taking command in person, with his 
fresh troops in the front line of the enemy. Colonel Jesup, 
who had at the commencement of the action been posted on 
the right, succeeded, after a gallant contest, in turning the 
left flank of the enemy, and came in upon his reserve, ' bur- 
dened with prisoners, making himself visible to his own 
army, amid the darkness, in a blaze of fire,' completely de- 
stroying all before him. The fight raged for some time with 
great fury, but, it became apparent, uselessly to the Ameri- 
cans, if the enemy retained possession of the battery, mani- 
festly the key of the position. 

" I was standing at the side of Colonel Miller," said the 
Major, " when General Brown rode up and inquired whether 
he could storm the battery with his regiment, while General 
Ripley supported him with the younger regiment, the 
Tzuenty-tJiird. Miller, amid the uproar and confusion, de- 
liberately surveyed the position, then, quietly turning, with 
infinite coolness replied, ' Flltry, sir' I think I see him now," 
said the Major, "as he turned to his regiment, drilled to 
the precision of apiece of mechanism ; I hear his deep tones, 
' Twenty. first — attention ! Support arms ; double quick ; 
march !' Machinery could not have moved with more com- 
pactness than that gallant regiment followed the fearless 
stride of its leader. Supported by the Tzve!ity-third,\.\\Q dark 
mass moved up the hill like one body ; the lurid light glit- 
tering and flickering on their bayonets, as the combined fire 
of the enemy's artillery and infantry opened murderously 



I I 6 BA TTLE OF L UND F'5 LANE 

upon them. They flinched not; they faltered not, as the 
deadly cannot-shot cut yawning chasms through them. 
Within a hundred yards of the summit a volley, sharp, in- 
staneous as a clap of thunder; another moment, rushing 
under the white smoke, a short furious struggle with the 
bayonet, and the artillerymen were swept like chaff from 
their guns. Another fierce struggle ; the enemy's line was 
forced down the hill, and the victory was ours ; the posi- 
tion entirely in our hands; their own pieces turned and 
playing upon them in their retreat. It was bought at cruel 
price, most of the officers being either killed or wounded. 
The whole tide of the battle now turned to this point. The 
result of the conflict depended entirely upon the ability of 
the victorious party to retain it. Major Hindman was or- 
dered up, and posted his forces at the side of the captured 
cannon, while the American line correspondingly advanced. 
Stung with mortification, General Drummond concentrated 
his forces, to retake, by a desperate charge, the position. 
The interval amid the darkness was alone filled by the roar 
of the cataracts, and the groans of the wounded. He ad- 
vanced with strong reinforcements, outflanking each side of 
the American line. We were only able, in the murky dark- 
ness, to ascertain their approach by their heavy tread. 
' They halted within twenty paces ; poured in a rapid fire, 
and prepared for the rush.' Directed by the blaze, our men 
returned it with deadly effect, and after a desperate struggle 
the dense column recoiled. Another interval of darkness 
and silence, and again a most furious and desperate charge 
was made b)' the British, throwing the whole weight of 
their attack upon the American centre. The gallant Tzventy- 
first, which composed Ht, received them with undaunted 



BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LAXE 



117 



firmness ; while the fire from our lines was ' dreadfully ef- 
fective.* Hindman's artillery served with the most perfect 
coolness and effect. Staggering, they again recoiled. Dur- 
ing this second attack, General Scott in person, his shattered 
brigade now consolidated into a single battalion, made two 
determined charges upon the right and left flank of the enemy, 
and in these he received the scars which his countrymen 
now see upon his manly front. Our men were now almost 
worn down with fatigue, dying with thirst, for which they 
could gain no relief. The British, with fresh reinforcements, 
their men recruited and rested, after the interval of another 
hour, made their third and final effort to regain the posi- 
tion. They advanced, delivered their fire as before, and 
although it was returned with the same deadly effect, stead- 
ily pressed forward. The Twenty-first again sustained the 
shock, and both lines were soon engaged in a 'conflict, ob- 
stinate and dreadful beyond description.' The right and 
left of the American line fell back for a moment, but were 
immediately rallied by their officers. ' So desperate did 
the battle now become, that many battalions on both sides 
were forced back,' the men engaged in indiscriminate melee, 
fought 'hand to hand, and with muskets clubbed; and 'so 
terrific was the conflict where the cannon was stationed, that 
Major Hindman had to engage them over his guns and gun- 
carriages, and finally to spike two of his pieces, under the 
apprehension that they would fall into the hands of the 
enemy.' General Ripley at length made a most desperate 
and determined charge upon both of the enemy's flanks; 
they wavered, recoiled, gave way ; and the centre soon fol- 
lowing, relinquished the fight and made a final retreat. The 
annals of warfare on this continent have never shown more 



Il8 BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE 

desperate fighting. Bayonets were repeatedly crossed, and 
after the action man}' of the men were found mutually trans- 
fixed. The British force engaged was about five thousand 
men ; the American, thirty-five hundred ; the combined loss 
in killed and wounded, seventeen hundred and twenty-two, 
officers and men. The battle commenced at half-past four 
o'clock in the afternoon, and did not terminate till midnight. 
We were so mingled," said the Major, " and so great the con- 
fusion in the darkness, that as I was sitting with a group of 
officers in the earlier part of the night, on horseback, a 
British soldier came up to us, and recovering his musket, 
under the supposition that he was addressing one of his own 
officers, said, ' Colonel Gordon will be much obliged, sir, if 
you will march up the three hundred men in the road to his 
assistance immadiately, as he is very hard pressed.' I called 
him nearer, and pressing his musket down over my holsters 
made him prisoner. ' What have I done, sir,' said the as- 
tonished man, ' what have I done ?' and to convince British 
officers, as he supposed, of his loyalty, exclaimed, ' Hurrah 
for the King, and damn the Yankees.' As he was marched 
to the rear, the poor fellow was cut down by a grape shot. 
In another part of the field, an American aid pulled up sud- 
denly on a body of men under full march. In reply to his 
demand, 'What regiment is that?' he was answered, 'The 
Royal Scots.' With great presence of mind, he replied, 
' Halt ! Royal Scots, till further orders,' and then, turning 
his horse's head, galloped from their dangerous proximity. 
It was a horrid conflict. Humanit}^ sighs over the slaughter 
of the brave men that fell in it." 

But here we are, at the grave-yard, with its drooping 
willows and flowering locusts. Still — still — and quiet now. 



i 



BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE 



119 



No armed men now disturb its calmness and repose; no 
ponderous artillery wheels rudely cut its consecrated 
mounds ; no ruffian jest ; no savage execration ; no moan of 
anguish break now upon its hallowed silence. The long 
grass and blossoming heather wave green, alike o'er the 
graves of friend and enemy. The marble tells the story of 
the few ; the many, their very parents know not their resting 
place. See this broken wooden slab ; it has rotted off even 
with the ground, and lies face downwards, the earth-worm 
burrowing under it, in this neglected corner. Pull the grass 
aside ; turn it over with your foot. What is the nearly ef- 
faced inscription? 

" <^ a c V e rt 

TO THE MEMORY OF 

C A P T ' N BROWN, 

OF THE 

2ist Regiment, 

WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN ACTION, WITH THE ENEMY, 
ON THE 25TH OF JULY, 1814." 

And this is honor! This is fame! Why, brave man I 
e'en now I read the tribute to thy braver)^ in the bulletin of 
the action. Thou had'st comrades — father — mother — sisters — 
to mourn thy loss ; and 7wz£/, the stranger's foot carelessly 
spurns thy frail memento ; nor father, mother, sisters, nor 
human hand can point to the spot where rest thy ashes. 
Peace to thy manes ! brave countryman, where'er they 
sleep. 

See from this point how gently and gracefully undulates 
the battle-field ; the woods bowing to the evening breeze, as 
the soft sunlight pours through their branches, show not the 
gashes of rude cannon shot ; the plain, loaded and bending 



I20 BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE 

with the yellow harvest, betrays no human g-ore ; yon hill — 
scathed, scorched and blackened with cannon flame, the very 
resting-place of the deadly battery — no relic of the tierce 
death-struggle, as, covered with fragrant clover and wild 
blue-bell, the bee in monotonous hum banquets o'er it. 
Nought mars the serenity of nature as she smiles upon us. 
Yet, burnt in common funeral pyre, the ashes of those brave 
men, of friend and foe, there mingle in the bosom whence 
they issued. The frenzied passion passed, the furious con- 
flict o'er, they have lain down in quiet, and, like young 
children, sleep gently, sweetly, in the lap of that common 
mother who shelters, with like protection, the little field- 
mouse from its gambols, and the turbaned Sultan sinking 
amid his prostrate millions. Shades of my gallant country- 
men ! — Shades of their daring foes ! — farewell. Ne'er had 
warriors more glorious death-couch ; the eternal cataracts 
roar your requiem. 

Note. — The reader is referred, for further information, as to these 
battles, to Lossing's excellent History of the War of 1812, a work not 
in existence when these sketches were written. 



BATTLE OF LUXDY'S LAX!:. 



121 




LAKE GEORGE AND TICONDEROGA. 



THE Sun of Morning- hurls himself in blazing splendor 
o'er thy crystal waters, beautiful Horicon ! as we float 
upon thy placid bosom ; not as of yore, in feathery 
canoe, but in gaily-colored bark, drawn by Steam Spirit. As 
he vainly strives to break his fiery prison, see how he puffs 
and pants in the fierce embrace of the glowing element, in 
furious efforts dragging us onward with frantic swiftness, e'en 
as the frightened steed, the vehicle wildly bounding after 
him ; as the valve of safety opens, hear the shriek of mad de- 
light with which exultingly he proclaims his freedom ; now, 
the iron portal closed, how like Sampson in the Prison Mill, 
struggling, giant-like, he again applies him to his toil. Im- 
prisoned Spirit! there is no help for thee. Sweat thou must, 
and pant, and groan, till — like thy fellow-laborer, man, 
released from fire fetter, as he of earth — resolved to pure 
ether, thou shalt float again free and delighted in the clear 
elements above ! 

Ho! brother spirit, tarry, tarry ; wait thou a little till I 
join thee ; then how gallantly we'll ride! Couched on sum- 
mer clouds, lazily we'll float ; or, glancing on sun rays, shoot, 
swift as thought, 'mid the bright worlds rolling in sublimity 
above us. We'll bathe in the Moon's cold splendor, fan in 
the sultry heat of crimson Mars, slide upon Saturn's eternal 
snows ; or, jo3^ously gamboling along the Milky Wa}', we'll 
chase the starry Serpent to his den. Ho! brother spirit ; 



LAKE GEORGE AXD TICOXDEROGA I 23 

but we must bide ourtime ; madly now, in wild career, thou 
sweep'st the placid lake from under us. 

But whom have we here ? A sturdy hunter in home-spun 
clad, with his long rifle ; his broad-chested hounds in quiet, 
sleeping- at his feet ; our fellow-passenger till, landed on 
some mountain-side, he follows his sylvan war. Clear animal 
health and vigor shine from each lineament. With what 
open, unsuspicious manhood, what boundless freedom, he 
comports himself. Ha! what is it, hound? What is it? 
Why dost shake thy pendant ears and gaze so keenly in the 
distance ; and why that plaintive howl ? Ay, ay, hunter, thy 
practised eye hath caught it. On yon wooded island to the 
windward ; a noble buck with graceful form and branching 
antlers. He sees us not, but the dog's quick senses have 
caught his scent upon the passing wind. Still, boy, still ! 
Pilot, put her a little more under the island. Hunter, lend 
me thy rifie ; launch the canoe. Come, hunter ; peace, 
hounds; keep the dogs on. board; paddle for yonder point. 
Now we shoot upon the pebbl}' beach ; now make her fast to 
this dead log. We'll steal gently through the woods and 
come upon him unawares. Softly ; press those vines away ; 
whist ! avoid the rustling of the branches ; here, creep through 
these bushes ; tread lightly on the fallen leaves ; you'll mire 
upon that swampy bottom. Hush, hush ; tread softly — that 
crackling branch ! He lifts his head ; he looks uneasily about 
him. Stand quiet ! Now he browses again ; get a little 
nearer ; we are within distance. I'll try him — click. Back 
go the antlers ; the cocking of the rifle has alarmed him — 
he's off. Here goes! — crack! He jumps ten feet in the 
air. I've missed him ; he bounds onward ; no — yes — by 
Jove! he's down — he's up again — he plunges forward — 



r 24 LAKE GEORGE AND TICONDEROGA 

falls again — he rises — falls — he struggles to his knees — he — 
falls ! Hurrah ! he's ours — quick — quick — thy coiitcmi chasse; 
we'll make sure of him. Stop; stop! Poor deer! and / 
have murdered thee — for my sport, have murdered thee ; 
have taken from thee the precious boon of life ; with cruelty 
have broken the silver chord, which the beggar's blunt knife 
can sever, but not the jeweled fingers of the monarch again 
rejoin. There, there, thou liest, true to the Great Master's 
picture : 

"The big round tears course down thy innocent nose in piteous chase, 
And thy smooth leathern sides pant almost to bursting." 

Thy life blood flows apace — e'en now thy large soft eye 
dims in the sleep of death — and / have slain thee. Thou 
had'st nought other enemy than the gaunt coward wolf, or 
fanged serpent ; him, with light leaping bounds, thou 
laugh'st to scorn, as his long howl struck on thy quick ear 
and the sullen rattler, with many blows of thy tiny polished 
hoof thou dash'st to pieces, ere from his deadly coil, his 
flattened head, with glistening tongue and protruded fangs, 
could reach thee. Oh ! I shame me of my miscreant fellow- 
ship. E'en the poisonous serpent, with quick vibrating tail, 
did give thee warning ; /stole upon thee unawares. Hunter ! 
take again thy weapon ; for thee ; 'tis thy vocation ; perhaps 
'tis well ; the game is thine, I entreat of the e, let not my in- 
nocent victim again reproach my eye-sight. So ! here is the 
canoe ; we again embark ; we rock against the steamer's 
side ; and now again rush onward in our swift career. 
Islands glide by us in countless numbers. The frightened 
trout scales in quick alarm from the splashing water-wheels, ; 
while echo, mocking their watery clam or, wakes the old 



LAKE GEORGE AND TICOXDEKOGA I 25 

mountains from their sleepy stillness, who again, like drowse- 
giants, relapse into repose as we leave them far behind us. 



RUINS OF FORT TICONDEROGA. 

Ticonderoga, we approach th}^ shore. Ay, true to appoint- 
ment, here are the horses. Mount — on we go, over hillock 
and valley, through brake, through briar, through mud, 
through water, through swamp, through mire ; we gallop 
over the broad green peninsula; leap the entrenchments ; 
thread the lines. Here is the citadel ; descend the moat ; 
the wild dank weeds and furze o'ertop our heads. Ay — 
here's a chasm, a breach in the ancient walls ; spur up ; spur 
up ; now we draw rein within the very centre of the black- 
ened ruins. How lovely the view, from the soft undulating 
promontorv ; the lake bathing its sides ; Horicon's moun- 
tains o'erlooking it on this; the stalwart yeomen of the 
verdant State, free as the winds, on that ! Oh ! Ticonderoga, 



126 LAKE GEORGE AND TICONDEROGA 

'midst these uncultivated wilds; these silent mountains; 
various and eventful hath been thy history. 

Ho ! Old Time — how calmly strok'st thou thy long grey 
beard, as, seated on the broken ruins, thou ponderest their 
past ! Come ! come, old father ! ascend this crumbling battle- 
ment — lean on my shoulder — I, as yet, am straightest, — I 
will hold thy scythe. Now point to me the drama which 
past generations have acted upon this green peninsula. 

" What do I see ?" I see the savage life; the light canoe 
floating on the blue lake ; painted warriors spearing the 
salmon, chasing the deer upon the plain, dragging the surly 
bear in triumph ; I see the swift paddle chase ; I hear the 
laugh of children ; the voice of patient squaws; the distant 
yell, as, rounding the point, the returning braves bemoan the 
dead left on the war-path, and, as the shades of evening close, 
the sun in golden radiance retiring o'er the mountains, I see 
them congregate in wigwams in the cove. The blue smoke 
rises gently o'er the tree-tops, and all is still ; quiet and 
serenity obtain ; the whip-poor-will, and cricket, amid the 
drowsy hum of insect life, keep melancholy cadence. 

"Stranger! venture not near them — the peace is treach- 
erous ; no civilized challenge shall give thee warning, but 
the cruel war-shriek wildly ring o'er the insensate brain as 
the light tomahawk trembles in thy cloven skull." 

Wild mist rolls onward ; I hear sounds of distant music ; 
the mellow horn, the clashing cymbals break from its midst. 
Ah ! it rises. A gallant army, in proud array, with flags 
and banners ; bright glittering arms, and ponderous artillery. 
With alacrity they effect their landing. They fraternize 
with the red-skinned warriors. Their military lines run 
round like magic. I feel, e'en where we stand, huge walls. 



LAKE GEORGE AND TICONDEROGA 127 

grim towers rise, and bastions springing up around us; the 
spotless drapeau blanc, high o'er our heads, floats in the 
breeze ; wild chansoms of love, of war, of la belle France, 
mix with mirth and revelry. 

'* Stranger, 'tis the quick 'Qui Vive' that doth arrest thy 
footstep." 

Ay — now. Old Time, the mystic curtain again rolls up- 
wards. " What do I see ? " — Red-coated soldiers advancing 
in proud battalia through the forest glades, the sunbeams 
dancing on their bayonets. I hear the sound of bugles, the 
clamorous roll of drums, the groaning jar and creak of 
heavy-wheeled artillery. Spread along the lines, covered 
with sharp abattis and water moat, I see the impatient Gaul, 
with savage ally, in ambushment, await their coming ; they 
advance with desperate valor; they ford the ditch, hew 
the sharpened trees with axes. In vain ; the balls, like hail, 
from unseen foes murderously destroy them. Their leader 
falls; hark! the bugle with melancholy wail sounds their 
retreat. 

Again, Old Time, an interval ; again red-coated soldiers ! 
again groaning artillery ! Look up ! the drapeau blanc has 
vanished ; the meteor flag streams proudly from the flag- 
staff. 

" Stranger, 'tis the Anglo-Saxon's rough challenge that 
grufliy breaks upon thy ear." 

Long peace and silence, old father, now obtain ; the 
sentry sleeps upon his post; women and children play upon 
the ramparts ; but hark ! what is it far in the distance that I 
hear? The sound of battle! the fusilade of musketry, the 
roar of cannon ! I see Bunker's Hill from light barricade 
sweep down her thousands ; I see hurrying forward the hardy 



128 



LAKE GEORGE AND TICONDEROGA 




5ATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 



husbandman with hastily- 
caught musket; the robed di- 
vine; the 3^outh; the old man, 
cheered on by mothers, sis- 
ters, tender wives, to strike 



For their altars and their fires, 
God, and their native homes." 



I see new Nation's symbol — Stars and Stripes; — and — watch — 
Now, in the midnight darkness, through the fortress moat — 
how advance that fearless band of men ! Lo ! in silence they 
penetrate the fortress' centre. Hark ! what voice rouses 
the astonished officer, as, starting from his slumbers, he 
meets, close at his throat, the bayonet's threatening point? 
" Surrender !" " To whom ?" " The Great Jehovah, and the 
Continental Congress !" 



LAKE GEORGE AND TICOXDEROGA 



129 




ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA. 



Now floats the spangled banner proudly o'er the citadel ; 
patriotic men assemble ; armies make temporary resting 
place ; invalid soldiers breathe the health-restoring air, and 
age wears on. Ha ! was that a meteor, flashing from De- 
fiance Mountain summit? And there, another? Plunge! 
plunge! Cannon shot! screaming, yelling, bounding i' th' 
very centre of the fortress. 

" 'Tis the Englishman with his artillery." 

Quick, quick ! St. Clair, withdraw the army ; the position 
is no longer tenable. Strike not the flag ! let it shake de- 
fiance to the last ! Quick, the magazine — the train ! Ha, 
hah ! ^Etna, Vesuvius like, the explosion. 

Hallo ! Old time ! Ho ! thou of the scythe ! What ! hast 
gone ? Am 1 ? — ay, I am — alone ! Nought but the blackened 
ruins, and the crumbling ramparts, in silence surrounding me. 



MONTREAL. 



N 



OW, in steam palace, we shoot in swift career o'er thy 
tranquil surface, Lake Champlain ; thy rolling moun- 
tains, in wavy 
outline, ac- 
c o m p anying 
us in our rapid 
progress. Vast 
primeval for- 
ests sleep in 
stillness along 
thy borders. 
Their sylvan patriarchs, reigning 
for centuries, untouched by wood- 
man's axe, stretch proudly their 
far-reaching branches, till ancient 
Time, pointing with extended 
finger, the wild spirit of the winds 
breathes on them as he passes, andthey succumb, with sullen 
uproar, long with mock semblance retaining form and length, 
as if deriding the puny offspring shooting up around them ; 
bestowing sore fall, I ween, and tumble on adventurous hun-^ 
ter, as stumbling through the undergrowth he plunges pros- 
trate o'er them. 

Forests immense cover the 'mountains, gorges, valleys, 
reigning in stern solitude and silence, save where the fierce 




MONTREAL I 3 I 

fire-god, serpent-like, pursues his flaming journe)\ There, 
followed by wreathing smoke columns, forward he leaps, 
with fiery tongue licking up acres, while the waterpools, 
hissing in mist, join in his escort, and the wild game, with 
frantic swiftness, strive to escape the hot destruction of his 
embraces. With steady, noiseless progress, the white villages 
appear and disappear beside us. Rouse's skeleton Tower 
looms largely in the distance; — now, 'tis passed. 

Thy military works, and crimson flag, Isle Aux Noix, 
town of St. Johns, Richelieu, La Prairie ; we pass ye all ; and 
advancing in soft summer atmosphere, Chambly, we behold 
thy mountain ramparts filling the far distance. St. Law- 
rence, — majestic river, stretched like sheet of polished steel, 
as far as eye can reach — we stand upon thy level shores. 
Rapid, wide, rushing expanse of waters, with what glorious 
brightness thou look'st upon thy verdant shores, covered 
with continuous lines of snow-white cottages, and listenest 
to the soft music of the religious bells of the kind-hearted, 
cheerful habitans, as, with rude painted cross upon their 
door-posts, they scare away the fiend, and joyously inter- 
commune, in honest simple neighborhood. La Chine, we 
speed o'er thy surface with race-horse swiftness ; and now 
Montreal ! beautiful — most beautiful, couched at the foot of 
emerald mountain, liest thou upon the river's margin, thy 
spires, roofs, cupolas, glittering in the sun-beams with silver 
radiance ; thy grand cathedral chimes floating onwards till 
lost in dreamy distance. We land upon thy granite quay, 
measure the extended esplanade, now climb thy narrow 
streets and alleys. Almost we think we tread one of thy 
antique cities, ancient France : alleys narrow ; dark and 
gloomy courts ; grim inhospitable walls ; in place of airy case- 



132 MONTREAL 

ment, gratings and chained iron portals, military barracks, 
nunneries, prisons, fantastic churches, and Notre Dame's 
cloud-piercing towers, in huge architectural pile, looming 
high above all. Nois}'', chattering habitans, in variegated 
waist-belts and clattering sabots, rotund dark-robed priests, 
lank voyageurs, red-coated soldiers and haughty officers, jos- 
tle each other on the narrow trottoir; but, mark! the sullen, 
down-cast Indian, in blanket robed, with gaudy feathers and 
shining ornaments, his patient squaw, straight as an arrow, 
her piercing-eyed papoose clinging to her shoulders, silently 
following him in noiseless mocassins, moves along the kennel. 
Verily, poor forest child, it hath been written, and Moslem- 
like, thou to thy destiny must bow ; the fire-water and the 
Christian will it; fold thee closer in thy blanket robe, and — 
die. See yon Indian girl standing at the corner ; with what 
classic grace the blue fold drapery, thrown o'er her head, de- 
scends her shoulders, as, fawn-like, she stands, avoiding the 
rude passer's stare. 

Hardy ponies, in light calash, dash through the narrow 
streets, of passengers' safety regardless ; or, tugging at great 
trucks, strive, in renewed exertion, to vociferous cries and 
exclamations of the volatile Canadian. How well these 
Englishmen sit their horses. See that gentleman ; with what 
delicate hand he reins his fiery blood that treads as if on 
feathers, and how picturesque appear, amid the motle}' 
throng, these red-coated soldiers. 

Come ! here stands one at the Champ de Mars ; how mar- 
tially he deports himself ; his exactly poised musket and his 
brazen ornaments, how bright! Inscribed upon his gorget 
are the actions which have signalized his regiment — 
" Badajos," " Salamanca," " Vittoria," " Waterloo." We will 



MONTREAL 1 33 

address him. Soldier, your regiment was at Salamanca? 
" S-i-r." By the inscription on your gorget, your regiment 
distinguished itself at Salamanca; "scaled the imminent 
deadly breach " at " Badajos ;" stood the Cuirassiers' wild 
charge amid the sulphurous smoke at Waterloo ? "Don't 
know, indeed, s-i-r." And this is the gallant soldier ! Why, 
for years, under the menace of thy sergeant, thou hast scoured 
that gorget to regulation brightness ; for years hast marched 
under thy regimental colors emblazoned with those charac- 
ters ; and still, in ignorance need'st a Champoillion to deci- 
pher them. Verily thy daily wage of sixpence and thy 
ration are full compensation for thy service. 



THE NUN, 



N 



OW as we pass, look up! How minute appears the 
colossal statue of " Our Lady " in its niche on the 

vast front of the cathe- 
dral. And the nunner- 
ies; se If - constituted 
prisons for those whom 
God hath born to free- 
dom ; how like birds of 
evil omen they do con- 
gregate. Here is that 
of the Grey Order. 
Ring at the gateway ; 
we will enter. Here 
we pass the court- 
yard ; how still, how 
gloomy, and how pris- 
on-like ! This is their 
hospital. Piteous col- 
lection ! The blind, the 
halt, the maimed, the 
hideously deformed, consumption, palsy, the wrecks of 
fevers ! See, with what continued torture that wretched 
being writhes in her fixed position. This is the small spark of 
good amid the brands of evil. These orphan children are 
kindly cared for, but where the child-like joy and mirthful 




THE NUN 135 

freedom ! With what stealthy step the officials move about 
their duties along the silent corridors ! and, aye! here is the 
chapel, with its gilded altars, its ornaments, its embroideries, 
its bleeding hearts, its sacred symbols. See with what gen- 
tleness the '■^ Lady'' performs the servile duties of the 
sanctuary ! with what humility she bends before the altar. 
How beautiful that cheek of tint of Indian shell ; those 
dark romantic eyes with their long pensile lashes ; that 
nose of Grecian outline ; the small vermilion mouth ; 
the throat and neck of snow, and the glossy raven tresses 
escaping in rich luxuriance from the plaited coif as they fall 
upon her sloping shoulders. Mournful seems her devotion ; 
now rising, she stands before the Mater Dolorosa ; now 
wistfully gazes down the dark long corridor in sorrowful 
meditation. Hush! be silent. I will steal gently near her. 
Lady ! Turn not ; 'tis thy kind spirit whispers. Art thou 
content? Does thy young active soul find employ congenial 
in these gloom)- mysteries? Does thy springing, youthful 
heart, sympathize in these cold formalities; this company of 
grim-visaged saints and bearded martyrs ; with joy enchain 
thee? Does the passionate imagination and deep feeling 
flashing in those dark eyes ; the already hectic kindling of 
that cheek, look with pleasure to long years ; a life of cold 
monotonous routine ; of nightl}^ vigils ; fastings ; of painful 
mortifications ? Lady ! listen. They chain thy soul. Break 
thou away. Quick, in thy youth, fly from them, fly ! One 
moment. Speak not. See'st thou yon cottage peering 
from its green shades and graveled walks ; its parterres of 
the myrtle and the X\\y, its diamond lattice enwreathed and 
almost hidden in the embrace of sweet-smelling honey- 
suckles and clustering roses ; and its interior with its simple 



136 THE NUN 

yet delicate refinements? See'st thou in snowy dishabille 
the lovely woman ? with what heart-felt glee the frolicking, 
half-naked child, with chubby arms, almost suffocates in its 
little embrace her neck ; its golden ringlets mingling like 
streams of light 'mid her dark tresses ; with what ecstasy she 
enfolds him in her embraces, with maternal lips pressing in 
exquisite delight the plump alabaster shoulders ? Lady, such 
scenes, not gloomy walls, invite thee. Nay, 'tis not the voice 
of the Tempter ; 'tis not, as they will tell thee, the poison- 
ous breath of the many-colored serpent stealing o'er thy 
senses. Let bearded men, wrecked on their own fierce law- 
less passions, seek these dark cells, these painful vigils, these 
unmeaning mortifications. They are not for thee. The 
world awaits thy coming. The pawing steed, throwing the 
white froth fiakes o'er his broad chest, impatiently awaits 
thee. Fly, dear lady, fly ! The joyous, carroiing birds, the 
dew-spangled meadows cry, Come ! The green, green 
trees ; the bubbling water-falls ; the soft summer breezes ; 
the rosy tinted East ; the gorgeous drapery of the West — 
cry to thee, Come ! The voice of thy lover, frantic at thy 
self-sacrifice; the voice of him who in the fragfrant orange 
bower encircled thy slender waist, whilst, with heightened 
color and downcast eyes, thou listen'd to his rapid vows ; 
the voice of him, who with thy glossy raven tresses floating 
on his shoulder, and thy warm, sweet breath, mingling with 
his, lavished soul, existence, all, on thee, — in agony cries, 
Dearest, dearest, come ! Nay, nay, 'tis but for tJiy happi- 
ness, — I leave thee — exclaim not — I am gone. 



CATARACTS OF NIAGARA. 



^s^ 




INDIAN LIFE. 



NOW — on, on, over the Chute, and down the Rapid ; 
leaping the Saults ; through the rivers, over the is. 
lands; we glide, we glide, we rush, we fly. Ho ! Ariel, 
beautiful spirit, riding on thy rainbow, shoot not thy silver 
arrows at us as we pass. Tricksy spirit, fare thee well ; — now 
— far in the distance, — fare — thee — well ! Ha ! Ha ! Old frolic 
Puck, sweating, panting, holding thy lubbard sides ; we race, 
we race, we pass thee, too ; in vain thou strugglest to o'ertake 
us. Farewell, farewell ! Go pinch the housemaids, tickle 



138 CA TAR ACTS OF KIA GAR A 

with straws the snoring herdsmen, tumble about the dusty 
mows, sprinkle sweet hay before the ruminating cattle, 
clutch by the tail the cunning fox, as stealthily he crawls 
within the hen-roost ; and anon, rub thy hands in glee o'er 
the embers on the capacious kitchen hearth, and on all-fours 
cut antics with the glowering cat, as, with bowed back and 
shining eyes, she watches thee i' th' corner. Peer into the 
kettles and into jars, see whether the barm rises, whether the 
3^east doth work ; till with clash — clatter, the metal lid slips 
from thy fingers on the hearth-stone, and villain-like, thou 
shoot'st up the chimney, with "Ho! ho! ho!" laughing at 
the sleepy yeoman, as half covered, with oaken cudgel 
grasped, shivering, he peers through the door-crack the cause 
o' th' uproar. Farewell, farewell, mirthful goblin — farewell 
— farewell. Ontario, we waft across thy surface. Queens- 
town, thy sanguinary heights, crowned with brave Briton's 
monument, we pass ; and now, the rising mist-wreaths warn 
us of thy approach, Niagara. Huzza ! huzza ! now for a 
bath under the roaring Cataract ! In what wild chaos of 
waters the clamorous rapids, as if from the horizon, rush 
down upon us ; jumping, leaping, boiling in fierce confusion ; 
and this frail bridge, how it groans and shakes in the tor- 
rent's sweep ! A slip from Mahomet's sword-edge, o'er the 
awful Hades, would not consign us to more inevitable de- 
struction, than would a treacherous plank or rotten beam 
from this shaking platform. We tread the deep green 
woods of Goat Island, their mossy trunks covered with love- 
marks of Orlandos and Rosalinds ; and, amid the roar, de- 
scend the great Ferry stair-case. Stop a moment at this land- 
ing ; step out. How the solid earth shakes, jars and vibrates ! 
How the wild winds rush by us, as the huge fluid arch 



CA TA RACTS OF NIA GAR A I 3 9 

Stretches over with continuous plunge ; and see that group 
of wild flowers, scarlet, green and purple, smiling in beauty 
byond the reach of human hand, glistening in moisture 
midst the very spra}' in the rock cleft. But haste, haste! 
Here is the boatman. Leap in, leap in ! Now how, in our 
little cockle-shell bark, we whirl and sport in the eddies, o'er 
the fathomless depths below, like wing-born insects playing 
over the abyss. 

We land ; ascend the heights ; we pass the sentry. At 
the tiring-house. We robe ourselves for the enterprise ; 
tarpaulin coats, hats bound with old rope, trowsers of tow 
cloth, shoes of cowhide; ha! ha! But quick! descend the 
long spiral stair-case. Now, Guide ; we follow. Beware 
you fall not on these sharp, slippery rocks. We approach. 
The Table Rock hangs o'er us. In grandeur the solid fluid 
mass falls precipitate. Prepare. Turn as you enter ; hold 
down your head ; repress your breath : — are you read}' ? 
Rush ! We are beneath the yawning chasm ; soaked in an 
instant. Like furious rain-storm, and wind, and tempest 
all combined, this wild, frightful roar. What? Scream 
louder, louder ! Hold firm by the guide ; a slip from this nar- 
row ledge, and, Avhew — splash — dead in our faces, — almost 
suffocated. Turn to the dripping rock wall, and catch your 
breath till the wind-rush again lifts the watery curtain. 
Slimy eels glide by ; darkness deep above, dim light strives 
to reach us through the cataract sheets. We are at the 
extreme verge. Guide, guide; ha! what indicates that mo- 
tion of thy lips ? closer, — close in my ear. " Termination 
rock." Turn, turn — splash — swash — drenched, suffocated ; 
return, return. We see again the light. Rush ! We stand 
once more in the clear open sunlight. Whew ! puff — drip- 



1 40 CA TAR A CTS OF NIA GAR A 

ping — dripping, a shower-bath worthy of old Neptune. 
How delightfully our nerves spring under its exhilarating 
influence. Take care ; again these slippery stones. Beware ! 
beware ! here we ascend again the stair-case. In the attir- 
ing-room. Towels, brushes; Christains once more. 

Come ; come ! Now to the Table Rock. See with what 
treacherous glitter the wide Niagara stretches in perfect 
smoothness far towards Chippewa, till, descending upon us, 
it shoots the rapids o'er their rocky beds like things of life, 
and with wild rush around the island, sweeps resistless o'er 
the awful cataracts, a roaring hurricane of waters. Give 
me your hand — lean forward ; look into the abyss ; careful ! 
Evil spirits take us at advantage at such times, and whisper 
us to leap forward. How lashed in milky whiteness the 
huge gulf boils and foams as the waters plunge fractured, 
disjointed, tumbling in masses ; and the wild birds, how fear- 
lessly they skim amid the white mist rising from its surface. 
How the earth shudders and trembles around us. You are 
already dizzy. Come back from the edge. How awful ; 
how terribly sublime! How tame, how useless, helpless, 
description! Would that I, with voice of inspiration, could 
command language adequate to portray the grandeur of the 
scene under stern Winter's reign ! Transcendantly beauti- 
ful ! A thaw and rain, followed by sudden chill and cold, 
clothes all the forest ; every hedge and shrub, with trans- 
parent coat of ice. Gnarled oaks, from massive trunk to 
their extremest twigs, become huge crystal chandeliers ; 
the evergreen pines and hemlocks, with long lancing 
branches, great emeralds ; lithe willows, sweeping, glassy 
cascades; the wild vines, stiff in silvery trellises between 
them ; the undergrowth, with scarlet, blue and purple ber- 



CA TAR A CTS OF NIA GAR A 1 4 1 

ries, candied fruits ; the pools of frozen water at their feet, 
dark sheets of adamant ; and ever and anon, as the north 
. wind passes o'er them, the forest becomes Golconda, Araby 
— one Ind of radiant gems, quivering with diamonds, rubies, 
sapphires, in glittering splendor, pearls, emeralds, hyacinths, 
chrysolites, falling in showers, as, fractured from their crack- 
ling branches, they strew the snowy bed stretched smooth 
around them; that wide, smooth river, far above the 
Rapids, ice-chained, a solid snow-white bed, gleaming in 
the mid-day sun ; yon Tower, misshapen giant phantom, ice 
God, in frozen shroud and winding-sheet, firmly fixed 'mid 
the swift running waters — huge stalactite icicles. Winter's 
hoary beard, hanging in fantastic curtains from each rock 
ledge, pinnacle, projection ; while on the black rapids, the 
vast ice-fields, breaking in masses, pile in wild confusion, 
grinding and swaying on their treacherous holds, till, gath- 
ering momentum, with slide and plunge, submerged, they 
sweep onward 'mid the wild roar of the Cataracts, which, 
with stern, resistless power, hold their terrific course ; those 
huge sheets, those watery arches, those green beryl masses, 
plunging in resistless fury, unabated vastness, with desper- 
ate leaps into the foaming abyss below, the spray falling in 
silver showers, pierced by the sun's ra3's dancing around 
them in countless rainbows; while the ice avalanches, break- 
ing from their grasps on the surrounding rocks and preci- 
pices, with booming plunge and uproar, fall crashing, buried 
in the dark whirlpools, boiling in the fathomless depths be- 
low ; the dark river, in torrents of copperas-hue, whirling in 
eddies, rushing o'er its deep rocky bed, in savage contrast 
with the snow-covered precipices that chain it to its course. 
Deep, resistless sweep of waters! black as despair — Sadoc 



142 CA TA RA C TS OF NIA GA RA 

here were to thee the waters of Oblivion — here that Lethe, 
which, till other worlds received thee, should blot existence 
from keenest memory. 

The voice of the Unseen addressed the afflicted Patriarch 
from the whirlwind's midst ; us does it warn from this 
chained whirlwind of the waters. Sublime, terrible, inde- 
scribable, as is this scene by human tongue, how tamely all 
its grandeur sinks beneath the catastrophe which the being 
of future ages shall survey, or would, if with eagle's wings 
he could soar high in the clouds above it; when the narrow 
rock-belt which Niagara for by-gone centuries has been 
slowly wearing, severed, the light tract alluvial crumbling 
— the whole chain of inland oceans — Huron, Erie, Michigan, 
with awful wildness and destruction, sweep in second deluge 
o'er this outlet ; the adamantine rocks sinking like snow- 
wreaths from their beds ; all principalities, kingdoms, states, 
whate'er they shall be, between the Atlantic and the AUe- 
ghanies, the Labrador and Mexico, swept from existence, and 
in their place a heaving surge, wild waste of waters. Fool ! 
revolve this scene terrific in thy heart ; ponder it well ; then, 
if thou canst, say, indeed, there is no God ! Thy life, at best 
a flickering taper, shall soon meet extinguishment. Then 
shall there be an eternity to convince thee. 



MOUNT HOLYOKE. 



HERE we are, in the middle of the month of August. 
The " world " have long since fled the hot walls and 
blazing pavements of old Gotham, and even the very 
school-boys are let loose from their pale-faced pedagogues, 
to frolic like young colts in the country. Come, let us not 
remain in the sweltering city. Throw a few. things in your 
carpet-bag ; that is sufficient. Make me the guide. We will 
leave Saratoga and Newport to their flirtations ; another 
field is before us. Now, Eastward ho ! shall lie our course. 
Distance and time are left behind us ; already we are en- 
sconced at the Mansion House in this most lovely of villages, 
Northampton. 

Well does it deserve the name. Come one moment to 
the corner of this piazza. Look down the long avenues. 
See the verdant arches, formed by the boughs of the antique 
elms, bending toward each other in loving fraternity ; and 
the snow-white houses at their feet, their court-yards smil- 
ing with flowers ; and the still more smiling faces that glance 
behind their transparent windows. That will do ; you have 
stared long enough at the demure beauty behind the green 
blinds. Truly it seems, as it mostly is, the abode of retired 
gentlemen ; a very Decameron sort of a place in this work- 
ing-day w^orld of ours. But are we not Americans? TF/zj/ 
should we rest? To breakfast; behold, a regular Yankee 
feast. Snow-white bread and golden butter ; chickens that 



144 MOUNT HOL YOKE 

one short hour since dreamed of bins of corn and acres of 
oats, on their roosts in the lofty barn ; steaks, pies, tea, pre- 
serves, the well-browned cakes, and last, not least, the spark- 
ling amber cider. Blessings on the heart of the nice-looking 
damsel at the coffee urn, with her red cheeks and neat check 
apron. But, egad ! my dear friend ; prudence ! hold up ; 
we have to ascend the mountain, and you will not find the 
feast that you are stowing away with such Dalgetty indus- 
try, likely to improve your wind. That last hot roll length- 
ens our ascent just one-quarter of an hour. There! the 
horses are neighing and impatiently champing the bit at the 
door. Are you ready ? Come then. Look out, lest that 
fiery devil throw you on the bosom of our common mother, 
earth ! Your bones would find her a step-dame ; those flam- 
ing nostrils are sworn enemies to your long spur gaffs. But 
here we go ! How balmy and delightful the cool air of the 
morning ; the verdant grass rises gracefully ; the wild fiower 
shakes its tiny bells, and drinks the dewy diamond glittering 
on its lips, as it waves gently o'er them. The rich yellow 
sun mocks the trees, as it rolls out their broad shadows on 
the velvet turf beneath ; while from knoll and waving muUen 
stalk, the meadow-lark, with outstretched neck and piercing 
eye, utters his notes in almost delirious rapture. We clear the 
broad meadows. Our very horses, with ears erect, gather 
speed with every bound, and seem read}^ to cry, ha! ha! 
We are the fabled centaurs of old. 

The heavy morning mist, rising in huge volumes, reluc- 
tantly bares the forest on the mountain-side ; it curls and 
breaks in vast masses ; it slowly rolls off to the eastward. 
Aye! there he stands; there stands old Holyoke, with his 
cragged coronal of rocks, a gigantic Titan, bidding defiance 



MO UNT HOL YOKE \ 45 

to time and tempest. Gallop, gallop ; we are within two 
hundred feet of the summit. This precipice — its dark sides 
frowning and grim, the velvet moss, and little clusters of 
scarlet and yellow flowers peeping from its crevices, where 
the rippling brooklet scatters its mimic showers over them, 
wreathed fantastically with vines and gnarled branches 
from its clefts — we must climb on foot. Rest a moment. 
How perfectly still the dense forest extends around us. 
Nought breaks the silence, save the querulous cry of the cat- 
bird, as it hops from branch to branch, the mimic bark of 
the squirrel, or the distant hollow tap of the woodpecker. 
Now, a little more climbing ; take care of those loose stones ; 
a few steps additional ascent ; give me your hand ; spring ! 
here we are on the rocky platform of its summit. Is not the 
scene magnificent ? We stand in the centre of an amphi- 
theatre two hundred miles in diameter. See ! at the base of 
the mountain curls, like a huge serpent, the Connecticut, its 
sinuosities cutting the smooth plains into all sorts of gro- 
tesque figures ; now making a circuit around a peninsula of 
miles, across whose neck a child might throw a stone ; here 
stretching straight as an arrow for a like distance ; and 
there again returning like a hare upon its course. See the 
verdant valleys extending around us, rich with the labor of 
good old New England's sons, and far in the distance — the 
blue smoky distance — rising in majesty, God's land-marks, 
the mountains. See the beautiful plains, the prairies beneath 
us, one great carpet of cultivation ; the fields of grain, the yel- 
low wheat, the verdant maize, the flocks, the herds, the 
meadow, the woodland, forming beautiful and defined figures 
in its texture, while the villages, in glistening whiteness, are 
scattered, like patches of snow, in every part of the land- 



146 MO UN T HOL YOKE 

scape ; and hark ! in that indistinct and mellow music we 
hear the bell slowly tolling from yonder slender spire. Oh ! 
for a Ruysdael, to do justice to the picture. 

Surely God did not intend that we should sweat and pant 
in cities, when he places such scenes before us. How like 
the fierce giants of old the lofty mountains encircle it, as a 
land of enchantment. See ! see ! the clouds, as they scud 
along in the heavens, how they throw their broad shadows, 
chasing each other on the plains below. Imagine them 
squadrons, charging in desperate and bloody battle. But 
no ; widows' and orphans' tears follow not tJieir encounters : 
rather the smiles of the honest, hard-handed yeoman, as he 
foresees his wains groaning with the anticipated harvests; 
his swelling stacks ; his crowded granaries. Here, for the 
present, let us recline on the broad and moss-covered rocks, 
while, with the untutored Indian, its rightful owner, in silent 
admiration we worship the Great Spirit, whose finger moves 
not, save in beauty, in harmony and majesty. 



WHITE MOUNTAINS. 



KNOCK! knock! knock! W-e-1-1. Thump! thump! 
thump! Who's there? What do you want? " Pas- 
seng-ers for the White Mountains, sir ; time to get up ; 
stage ready." Is it possible ? three o'clock already ? W-e-1-1, 
I'll get up. Call the gentleman in the next room. My 
friend, how are you, after your trip of yesterday to Mount 
Holyoke? A little stiff in the knees and ankles, eh ! But 
come ; the stage is at the door. Waiter, hold the light. 
How forlorn look the heavy muddy vehicle, and half-waked 
horses, by the dim light of the stage-lamps. That's right, 
my good fellow ; throw those carpet-bags inside. Shut the 
door. All ready. Driver, go ahead! "Aye, aye! sir." 
Hey! Tchk ! tchk! Crack! crack! crack! off we go. The 
steady clatter of the horses' hoofs, the jingling of the har- 
ness, the occasional roll as we pass over the boards of some 
bridge, and the intejectional whistle of the driver as he en- 
courages the horses, are the only things that break the silence 
for the next hour. The morning light begins to dawn. 
Whom have we here? Only two fellow travelers: — an 
honest, clean-looking countryman, snugly fixed in one cor- 
ner, with his night-cap pulled over his eyes, and his mouth 
wide open, as if admiring the melody that his nose in bugle 
strain is enacting just above it ; and opposite to him a gross 
fat man, of rubicund visage, his eyes ensconced in goggles, 
who nods, and nods, and nods ; and now his head bobs for- 



148 



WHITE MOUNTAINS 



ward into his neighbor's lap. How foolish he looks as he 
awakes to consciousness. It is broad daylight. Let us get 
up with the driver on the outside, and enjoy our cigars and 
the scenery together. 




Here we go, through 
the Connecticut River 
Valley, famous for its 
scenery and its legends ; 
the region of bright eyes 
and strong arms; the land 
of quiltings and huskings; of house-raisings and militia 
trainings ; and the home of savory roast pigs and stuffed 
turkeys, of fat geese, of apple sauce, and pumpkin pies ; 
the Ultima Thule to the Yankee's imagination. Now we 
are at Deerfield. While thev are about our break- 



WHITE MOUNTAINS 1 49 

fast, we will run across the road, and see the old 
Williams Mansion. A hundred years since, it was sur- 
rounded by Indians, and its occupants, the clergyman and 
his family, carried off captives to Canada. Here is the very 
hole cut in the front door by their tomahawks, and here the 
hacks of the hatchets. Through this hole they ran their 
rifles, and fired into the house, killing a man confined to his 
bed by sickness ; and here is the ball, lodging to this day in 
the side of the wall; — and this occurred one hundred years 
ago ! Say you, that the people that treasure up these leg- 
ends, and retain these memorials untouched, have no poetry 
in their souls? But there goes the stageman's horn ! Our 
breakfast finished, we resume our places at the side of our 
good-natured driver, and on we roll. We pass Battleboro', 
snugly ensconced in its mountain eyrie, and Hanover, with 
its broad parade, its flourishing colleges, and its inhabitants 
that never die — save from old age. 

With teams of six and eight horses, we speed over hill, 
over dale, over mountain, over valley, ascending and de- 
scending the mountains in full run ; our gallant horses, al- 
most with human instinct, guiding themselves. Snorting 
leaders, swerve not aside in your career ; linch-pins, do your 
duty ; traces and breeching, hold on toughly ; or, " happy 
men be our dole." Hah ! Wild Amonoosac, we greet thy 
indeed wild roar. How it sweeps the fallen timber in its 
boiling eddies ! The huge logs slide dancing onwards with 
the velocity of the canoes of the Indian ; or, caught by en- 
vious projection, or uplifting rock, form dams and cascades, 
till the increasing and cumbrous masses, gathering momen- 
tum, plunge forward, sweeping all before them — and — but 
whist ! Step into the shade of this tree ; look into the dark 



I50 



WHITE MOUNTAINS 



pool beneath those gnarled roots ; how beautifully the gold 
and purple colors glitter ; how motionlessly still is the head ; 
how slight and tremulous the movement of that fin, the 
wavy motion of the tail ! A two-pounder, as I am a Chris- 
tain ! Whist ! whist ! See that dragon-fly, gently sailing 
o'er the surface ; he rests a moment on it. Watch ! the head 
slowly turns ; the lins move decidedly ; ay, now, one rapid 
whirl of the tail, an electric leap to the surface. Poor fly, 
thy history is written ; and well for thee, thou greedy trout, 
that no barbed hook suspends thee in mid air, struggling in 
beauty, though in death, the prize of exulting angler. And 
thou, too, art there, savage Mount Franconia, with thy fantas- 
tic and human outline! Old Man of the Mountain!* with 
what grim stoicism thou lookest down upon the busy miners, 
as, with picks and powder-blast, they rive the sullen mineral 
from thy vitals. Ay ! watch thou by the lurid glare the 
sweating, half-naked forgemen, as they feed with thy forests 
the roaring furnaces. Watch the molten ore, slowly run- 
ning in glittering streams, with fiery showers of scintillations, 
into the dark earth-troughs below, while, with ceaseless din, 
the ponderous trip-hammers, and clanking machinery, break 
the, till now, Sabbath stillness of thy dwelling-place. But 
fare thee well, thou imperturbable old man ; fare thee well ; 
for now we enter the dense continuous forest, through which 
the busy hand of man has, with unwearied industry, cut the 
avenue. How deliciously the aroma of the gigantic pines 
mingles with the pure elastic air of the mountains. See the 
thick undergrowth ; the dogwood with its snowy blossoms, 
the scarlet sumac, the waving green briar profuse with deli- 
cate roses, the crimson raspberry loaded with its fruit. 
* Profile of the Mountain. 



WHITE MOUNTAINS 



151 



millions of bushes, the yellow sensitive plant, the dancing 
blue-bell, and, rising through the entangled mass of verdure 
and beauty, see the luxuriant wild grape, and clinging ivy, 
joyously climbing the f)atriarchs of the forest, encircling 
their trunks, and hanging their branches in graceful festoons 
and umbrageous bowers. No human foot, save with the 
aid of pioneer, can penetrate its matted wildness; nought, 
save those huge patriarchs rising above it, as they grow old 
and die, ?nd fall with crashing uproar, as into flowery sepul- 
chre, intrude upon its solitude. Then, indeed, in heavy 
booming plunge and rush, they seem to wildly sing, like 
their painted children, their death-song. But whence that 
wild and dissonant shriek, that rings upon the ear? Ah! 
yonder, erect and motionless, he sits, upon the towering oak, 
with haughty eye and talons of iron, screaming his call of 
warning to his partner slowly circling in graceful curves 
high in the blue ether above him. 

But see, where, as the dense forest stretches onward, the 
casual spark, dropped by the hand of the woodman, spread- 
ing into flame, and gathering in mighty volumes of fire, has 
swept onward in its roaring, crackling, destroying progress, 
leaving nought behind it save these grim and blackened 
skeletons and dead plains of ashes. See what darkness and 
desolation, and apparent annihilation, extend around you ; 
but yet, silently and quietly, ere long, shall the germ of life 
which can never die rise from those ashes, and verdure and 
beauty reign again, as was their wont. Even so the solitary 
mourner, when death strikes down at his side his dearest 
ones, stands helplessly encircled by solitude and desolation ; 
but soon all-pervading benevolence causes the green germ 
of the soul to rise from the ashes, and his heart again expands 
with tenderness and sympathy. 



152 WHITE MOUNTAINS 

The scene of desolation is passed ! and now, lest the 
Lord of fire should reign uncontrolled, lo ! where the spirit 
of the whirlwind has swept in his wild tornado. 
Lo ! far as your vision can command the circle — where, 
rushing from the mountain gorges, his chariots have whirled 
along in their fierce career of destruction. In mid height, 
the lofty trees are snapped like pipe-stems, and prone, like the 
field of grain laid by the hand of the reaper, lie huge trunks 
with the moss of centuries — not here and there one solitary, 
but for miles the whole vast forest prostrate — never again to 
rise. 

But speed ! speed ! the mountain passes are before us ! 
See the huge rock ramparts shooting their peaks upward, 
their frowning sides trickling and discolored with the cor- 
roding minerals in their bowels ; the stunted pines and 
evergreens clinging like dwarf shrubs in their crevices. 
See the huge slides — they have swept whole torrents ot 
rocks, of earth, in promiscuous destruction, from their sum- 
mits upon the valley below ; the river, filled and turned from 
its course in their path ; the very forest itself, the loftiest 
trees torn up, their branches, their trunks, their upturned 
roots, ground and intermixed with rock and earth, and 
splintered timber, swept on in wild, inextricable confusion ; 
and here ! where, starting from their slumbers, the devoted 
famil}^ rushed naked and horror-stricken to meet one in mid 
career. Well might the Puritans of old deem these deserts 
the abode and haunts of the evil one. 

But on, on ; how toilsome the ascent ! Long since have 
we passed the region of vegetation : the dry and arid moss, 
clinging to rock and stone, is alone around us. Drink of 
that spring, but beware its icy coldness ; not summer alters 



WHITE MOUNTAINS I 53 

its temperature. Behold, in the clefts and gorges, the 
never-melting snow-wreaths ! The flaming suns of summer 
pass over, and leave them undiminished. Courage ! we 
climb ; we climb. Courage, my friend ! We ascend, we 
ascend ; we reach the top ; now panting, breathless, ex- 
hausted, we throw ourselves upon the extreme summit. 

Gather your faculties ; press hard your throbbing heart. 
Catch a view of the scene of grandeur around you, before 
the wild clouds, like dense volumes of steam, enclose us in 
their embrace, shutting it from our vision ; — mountains — 
mountains — rolling off as far as eye can reach in untiring 
vastness ; a huge sea of mountains held motionless in mid 
career. How sublime ! how grand ! What awful solitude ! 
what chilling, stern, inexorable silence ! It seems as if an 
expectant world were awaiting, in palpitating stillness, the 
visible advent of the Almighty ; mountain and valley in ex- 
pectant awe. O man ! strutting in thy little sphere, thinkest 
thou that adoration is confined alone to thy cushioned seats, 
thy aisles of marble ; that for devotion the Almighty looks to 
nought but thee? Wh)% look thou there! — beneath — 
around — millions, millions, millions of acres teeming with 
life, yet hushed in silence to thy ear — each grain the integer 
and composite of a world ; the minutest portion a study, a 
wonder in itself — lie before thee in awful adoration of their 
Almighty Founder. Well did the Seers of old go into the 
mountains to worship. O, my brother man ! — thou that dost 
toil and groan and labor in continual conflict with what ap- 
pears to thee unrelenting fate ; thou to whom the brow- 
sweat appears to bring nought but the bitter bread and con- 
tumely and shame ; thou on whom the Sysiphean rock of 
misfortune seems remorselessly to recoil — ascend thou 



154 



WHITE MOUNTAINS 



hither. Here, on this mountain-peak, nor king nor emperor 
are thy superior. Here, thou rt:r/ a man. Stand thou here; 
and while with thy faculties thou canst command, in instant 
comprehension, the scene sublime before thee, elevate thee 
in thy self-respect, and calmly, bravely throw thyself into 
the all-sheltering arms of Him who watches, with like bene- 
volence and protection, the young bird in its grassy nest, 
and the majestic spheres, chiming eternal music in their 
circling courses ! 



BASS FISHING OFF NEWPORT. 



HERE we are, at Newport ! What a little gem of an 
island, rising, like emerald on sapphire, from the 
surrounding ocean ! We will walk up to the Mall. Ay, 
here, with its green blinds and scrupulously clean piazza, is 

old Mrs. E 's, and they are at tea already. Come, 

take your seat at table. 

With what serene dignity and kindness the old lady, in 
her nice plaited cap, her spotless kerchief, and russet poplin 
dress, her pin ball, with its silver chain, hanging at her 
waist, presides at the board, crowded with every imagin- 
able homely delicacy, from the preserved peach and crullers 
made by herself, to the green candied limes brought home 
by her grandson from his last West India voyage. See the 
antique furniture, with its elaborate carving ; the mahogany- 
framed looking-glasses ; and, in the corner, on the round 
stand, the large Bible, carefully covered with baize, sur- 
mounted with the silver spectacles. No place this for 
swearing, duel-fighting, bewhiskered heroes ; but just the 
thing for quiet, sober folk, like you and me. What sayest 
thou, Scipio, thou ebon angel — that the ebb sets at five i' 
the morning, and that old Davy, the fisherman, will be ready 
for us at the Long Wharf at that hour ? Well, get yourself 
ready, and go along with us. Call us in season. Ay, that 
will do ; the roll of those eyes, the display of that ivory, to 



156 BASS FISHING OFF NE WPOR T 

say nothing of the scratch of that head and the sudden dis- 
placement of that leg-, sufficiently evince th}' delight. 

So, so ; here we are, punctual to the hour. Ay, yonder 
he is, in his broad strong fishing-boat ; yonder is old Davy, 
as he was twenty years ago ; the same tall gaunt fig- 
ure, the same stoop in the shoulders, bronzed visage, and 
twinkling gray eyes ; the same wrinkles at the side of his 
mouth, though deeper ; the same long, lank hair, but now 
the sable silvered ; the same, the same that he was in the 
days of ni}' boyhood. He sees us. Now he stretches up to 
the wharf. Jump in; jump in! Be careful, thou son of 
Ethiopia, or thy basket will be overboard — sad disappoint- 
ment to our sea-whet appetites some few brief hours hence. 
All in. We slide gently from the wharf. The light air in 
the inner harbor here barely gives us headway. Look down 
into the deep, still water, clear as crystal ; see the long sea- 
weed wave below ; see the lithe eels coursing and whipping 
their paths through its entangled beds ; and see our boat, 
with its green and yellow sides, its long flaunting pennant, 
its symmetrical white sails, suspended, as if in mid-air, on 
its transparent surface. 

HoAv still and tranquil lies the quiet town, as the sun gilds 
its white steeples ; and how comfortable look the old family 
mansions rising from the green trees. How beautifully the 
yellow sun casts his shadows on the undulating surface of 
the island, green and verdant; the flocks of sheep, and 
browsing cattle, grouped here and there upon its smooth 
pastures. We float past Fort Wolcott; its grass-grown ram- 
parts surmounted by dark ordnance, and its fields cheerful 
with whitewashed cottages and magazines. 

Ay ! now it breezes a little ; now we gather headway, and 



BA SS FISHING OFF NE IVPOR T I c 7 

now we pass the Cutter. See her long, taper, raking- masts, 
her taut stays and shrouds ; and hear, as the stripes and 
stars are run up to her gaff, the short roll of the drum, the 
" beat to quarters." Hah ! Davy, old fellow, dost re- 
member that note last war ? How many times, at mid- 
night, we've sprung from our beds as that short, quick 
' rub-a-dub " warned us of the approach of the blockading 
frigates, as they neared the town. But no, no, old tar ; I 
recollect that thou then wast "captain of thy gun," on 
board the dashing Essex. Ay ! well now do I remember, 
brave old sailor, thy conduct in her last desperate battle. 
Eighteen men hadst thou killed at thy single gun. 1 think 
1 see thee now, as, grimed with powder, spattered with 
blood, thou didst advance, through fire and smoke, and ap- 
proach thy saturnine commander on the quarter-deck. I 
hear thy brief, business-like request : "A fresh crew for 
Number Three, Second Division. All my men are killed ! " 
And the short, stern response, " Where is your officer?" 
''Dead — swept overboard by cannon-shot." And well I see 
the momentary play of anguish round his mouth, as, 
resuming his hurried walk, he gloomily replies : " I have no 
more men ; 3^ou must fight your gun yourself! " Ay ; and 
as thy proud ship a helpless target lay, for twice superior 
force, I hear poor Ripley , thy brave comrade, severed 
almost in twain by cannon-shot, crying, with short farewell 
" Messmates, I am no longer of use to myself or country," 
as he throws himself, his life-blood gushing, overboard. 

But now the wind freshens, the smooth surface darkens, 
the sails belly out in tension, and the white ripples gather 
under our bows. We round the point ; Fort Adams, we 
pass thy massive walls, thy grim " forty-twos " glaring lik 



1^8 BASS FISHING OFF NE WPOR T 

wild beasts chained, ready to leap upon us from their case 
ments. Ay ! now we run outside ; now it freshens ; now it 
breezes ; she begins to dance like a feather. There it comes 
stronger ! see the white caps ! There she goes, scuppers 
under! swash, swash, swash; we jump from wave to wave, 
as we run parallel with the shore, our pennant streaming 
proudly behind us. Here it comes, strong and stead}^ ! 
there she takes it — gunwale under; luff, old fellow ! luff up, 
Davy, or you'll give us all wet jackets. Ay ! that will do ; 
she's in the wind's eye. How the waves tumble in upon 
the land ! see the Spouting Rock ; see the column of white 
foam thrown up as, repulsed, the waves roll out again from 
the rocky cavern. We near the Dumplings, and — Round to ! 
round to ! here are the lobster-pots; haul in; tumble them 
in the bottom of the boat; ay, there's bait enough. Now 
we lay our course across to Beaver Light; we slide, we 
dash along, springing from wave to wave — dash, dash — no 
barnacles on her bottom at this rate, Davy. Ay, here we 
are; a quick run — a good, quick run. Anchor her just out- 
side the surf; ay, that will do ; give her a good swing; let 
her ride free ; she rolls like a barrel on these long waves. 
Look to your footing, boys^steady, steady. Now then, 
for it. Davy, you and Scip will have as much as you can 
do to bait for us. All ready? Here goes then; a good, 
long throw ; that's it — my sinker is just inside the surf. 
What ! already ? I've got him ; pull in, pull in. See, my 
line vibrates like a fiddle-string ! Pull away ; here he is — 
Tmitmig — three-pounder ! Lie you there ! Ay, slap away, 
beauty ; you've done forever with your native element. 
There, again ! off with him. Again — again — again. This is 
fun to us, but death to you, ye disciples of St. Anthony ! 



BASS FISHING OFF NEWPORT 



159 



Give me a good large bait this time, Scipio ; that will do ; 
now, whis — whis — whis-te — that's a clean, long throw. By 
Jupiter ! you have got a bite with a vengeance. Careful — 
give him more line — let it run — play him — ease, ease the line 
around the thole-pin ; he'll take all the skin off your fingers 
else. Pull away gently ; there he runs. Careful, or you 
lose him ; play him a little, he begins to tire ; steady, 
steady; draw awa}'. Now he shoots wildly this way ; look 
out ! There he goes under the boat ; here he is again. 
Steady ; quick, Davy, the net ! I've got it under him ; now 
then, in with him ! Bass ! twenty pounds, by all the steel- 
yards in the old Brick Market ! Ay, there they have got 
hold of me ; a pull like a young shark ; let it run ; the whole 
line is out ; quick, quick — take a turn round the thole-pin ; 
snap ! There, Davy ; there goes your best line, sinker, 
hooks and all. Give me the other line. Ah, ha ! asfain, 
again, again. This is sport. One, two, three — nine bass 
and thirty Tautaug. So, the tide won't serve here any 
longer ; we will stretch across to Brenton's Reef, on the 
other side. Up anchor; hoist away the jib. Here we go, 
again coursing over the blue water. How the wind lulls ! 
Whew, whew, whew ; blow, wind, blow ! Put her a little 
more before it; that will do. Hallo, you, Scipio! wake up, 
wake up ! Here we are, close on the reef ; give her plenty 
of cable. Let her just swing clear, to lay our sinkers on the 
rocks. That will do. How the surges swell and roar, and, 
recoiling, rush again boiling on the rocks ! So — so, they 
don't bite well here to-day. The tide comes in too strong 
flood ; well, we can't complain ; we have had good sport 
even as it is. Come, Africa, bear a hand. Let's see what 
you have got in that big basket. Come, turn out ; turn out ! 



1 60 BA SS FISHING OFF NE WPOR T 

Ham, chicken, smoked salmon, bread and butter ; and in that 
black bottle ? — ay, good old brown stout. Pass them along, 
pass them along ; and wo be un^o thee, old fellow, if thy 
commissariat falls short ! 



BRENTON'S REEF. 



WITH what sullen and continuous roar the ocean 
waves heave in upon this inhospitable reef. See, 
as they recede, how the long, slimy rock-weed 
hangs dripping, and how deeply the retui-ning surge buries 
it again. Oh, never shall I forget a scene upon this horrid 
reef. A dark, portentous day in autumn, was followed in 
the evening by a terrific storm. Low, muttering thunder, 
which had been growling in the distant horizon, as the night 
set in, grew louder. The perfect stillness which had 
obtained, as if in preparation, was broken by long moaning 
sighs; the lightning became quick and incessant, and ere 
long the tempest, like an unchained demon, came bounding 
in from Ocean. The lightning, intensely vivid, accompanied 
by crashing and terrific thunder, illuminated the surround- 
ing coast with glittering splendor; the islands, the rocks, 
and yon beacon tower, now exposed to brightness surpass- 
ing noon-day, and now plunged into blackest darkness. The 
ocean appeared a sea of molten fire. Rain — hail — dashed 
hissing by, and mid the screaming of the blast, and the tor- 
rents rushing from the skies, the huge waves plunged, and 
roared, and, lashed in milky whiteness, broke mast-high upon 
these horrid rocks. While the fishermen in their cottages 
were thanking their stars that the}^ were snug and safe on 
shore, was heard, in the temporary lulls of the howling storm, 
signal-guns of distress. The neighboring inhabitants were 



1 62 BRENTON'S REEF 

soon upon that point, and, by the glittering flashes, within 
musket shot of the shore discerned a Spanish ship on the very 
ridge of the frightful reef; the stumps of her masts alone 
remaining ; the surf running and breaking in a continual 
deluge over her, while in her fore-shrouds were congregated 
the unhappy crew. She was so near that they could almost 
see the expression of agony in their countenances as, with 
extended hands, the crew piteously shrieked for help. Their 
situation was hopeless. Nothing could be done for them. 
No whale-boat could have lived for a moment, the surf 
rolled in with such resistless violence. They could only 
listen in silent horror. They heard the very grinding of her 
timbers, as shock on shock hastened her dissolution ; and 
amid the fury of the storm and their frantic cries for aid, in 
the momentary lulls, the sickening, continuous wail of a 
young boy lashed in the mid-rigging ; his supplicating 
exclamation, " Ai Jesus ! Ai Jesus !" Often, years after, in 
their dreams, did they hear those plaintive cries, and see 
that young boy's face turned imploringly to Heaven, while 
that " Ai Jesus ! Ai Jesus ! " rang wildly in their ears. But 
a short time could human fabric sustain the ceaseless plunge 
of the foaming elements. By the lightning flashes the num- 
ber of the sufferers was seen to lessen, as, relaxing their hold, 
they dropped off exhausted one by one ; swept into the 
rocky caverns below ; until, a longer interval of darkness — a 
more intense flash of lightning — and all had disappeared. 
Nought was left but the white foam, as it rushed tumultu- 
ously boiling and coursing over the long reef. It was so 
brief, so hurried — the appearance of their fellow creatures 
in their agony, and their disappearance so sudden — that it 
seemed a feverish dream. But the dead, mutilated bodies, 



B/?£.VTOJV'S REEF I 63 

ceroons of indigo and tobacco, and broken planks, swept 
along- the shore on the following morning, convinced them 
of its sad reality. 

The corse of the young boy, ungashed by the ragged 
rocks, was found and buried apart from the rest in the 
church-yard, for it appeared as if there was, in his childish 
helplessness, a claim for protection. That expression of 
agony I ne'er heard since, save once, and that — But, Davy, 
we have had all the sport we are like to have to-day ; get up 
the anchor, and we will fan along up to the harbor. So — let 
her jibe ; now put her before it ; ay, that will do. As I was 
saying : Shortly after the close of the last war, buoyant 
with youth and hope, I made — what was then not so common 
as now — the tour of Europe, lingering long in old Spain, 
fascinated with the romantic character of the countrymen 
of Cervantes, of the gallant Moors, of the Alhambra and the 
Cid. It chanced one evening, strolling about the streets of 
Madrid in pursuance of adventure, that, passing through one 
of the most unfrequented squares, I was attracted by lights 
shining through the long Gothic windows of a large chapel 
or cathedral. I approached, and entering with some 
curiosity, found it entirely silent. No living soul was present 
within its walls. The lofty chancel and altars were shrouded 
in mourning. By the wax candles on the altars I could see 
the fretted arches, the shrines and monuments along the 
walls, and the family banners wreathed in gloomy festoons 
above them. I wandered about, alone and uninterrupted. 
Nought moved, save the old blood-stained flags, as they 
fitfully waved to and fro in the wind. I gazed around me 
in admiration on the rich shrines and their appropriate pic- 
tures. Here, with her offerings of flowers, the wax candles 



164 B REN TON'S REEF 

burning bright and clear, was the Madonna, her lovely coun- 
tenance beaming with celestial sweetness, as she looked 
down upon the infant Saviour nestling in her arms, the Bap- 
tist standing at her knee pressing the plump little foot to 
his lips. And there, John in the island of Patmos, his emaci- 
ated limbs staring from their scanty covering of sackcloth, 
and his gaunt features glowing with inspiration, as from 
among the cloud of scattered grey hair and venerable beard, 
with upturned face he received from the flame-encircled 
trumpet above him the Holy Revelation. Here, armed cap- 
a-pie, the chivalrous Knights of the Temple consigned their 
slain brother to his rocky sepulchre, as, with grim, stern, 
averted countenances, they watched the fierce conflict and 
assault of the daring Infidel upon their Holy Cit}^ And 
there, the cross of Constantine richly emblazoned on its altar, 
was the C?'uciJixio)i, the Saviour extended on the cross, the 
thieves on each side of him, the head just bowed — and the 
awful"//" is finished f announced to the nations in fright- 
ful phenomena; the sun, turned to blood, throwing a lurid 
and unnatural glare on the assembled multitude ; the war- 
horses, riderless, rearing and plunging with distended 
nostrils ; rolling in convulsions, the solid mountains ; the 
affrighted soldier}^, horror-stricken, wildly lifting their hands 
to ward off the toppling crag, which, torn from its foundation 
by the earthquake, was in another instant to grind them to 
powder ; while the Romanc enturion, with curling lip, hold- 
ing tighter in his grasp the crimson flag, the "S. P. Q. R^ 
shaking fiercely in the wild wind, seemed to deride the 
Jew, even in that dread moment, with his abject slavery. 
And here was San Sebastian, his eyes streaming with martyr 
tears; — 



B REX TON'S REEF I 65 

The tinkling of a small bell struck upon my ear ; boys 
clad in scarlet swung their censers to and fro, and the incense 
floated high above them to the vaulted arches. 

A train of monks, in purple robes embroidered with white 
crosses, appeared in procession, slowly advancing on the 
tesselated pavement, bearing on tressels, covered with dark 
pall, a corse, by the muffled outline, of manly stature. Two 
female figures, grave servitors with deep reverence sup- 
porting them, followed close the dead. The deep thunder 
tones of the huge organ swept upward as they entered, 
wild, grand and terrible, as if touched by no earthly hand ; 
scarce audible sounds floating from the smallest pipes would 
catch the ear ; then bursts, like the roaring whirlwind, pour- 
ing in the whole mass of trumpets, rolling, and rising, and 
failing ; the most exquisite symphonies floating in the inter- 
vals until, fainter, fainter, the heart sickened in efforts to 
catch their tones. Dead silence followed ; the corse was de- 
posited in the chancel, the dark black pall slowly with- 
drawn, and the noble figure of a cavalier in the bloom of 
manhood, pallid in death, lay exposed before us. Clad in 
sable velvet, his rapier rested on his extended body, the jew- 
eled cross-hilt reverently enclosed in his clasped hands, as 
they met upon his broad chest, while the luxuriant raven 
hair, parted on the high forehead, the dark arched eyebrow, 
and the glossy moustache curling on the lip, added deeper 
pallor to what appeared deep, deep sleep. The servitors 
withdrew, and the mother and the daughter advanced to the 
last sight of him that was so generous, so kind, so beautiful, 
— their all. The thick veil, thrown hastily aside, discovered 
the furrowed, time-worn, grief-worn features of the mother, 
convulsively writhing and working, as, sinking at its head, 



1 66 BRENTON'S REEF 

her lips pressed in uncontrollable agony the damp, cold 
white forehead. The sister, clad in robes of purest white- 
ness, her golden ringlets dishevelled and floating around 
her, and in their rich luxuriance almost hiding her graceful 
form, bent o'er him ; and, as her gaze met not the answering 
smile of kindness and protection to which from infancy it 
was wont, but the stern, calm, sharpened features, in their 
icy stillness, then — as with frantic sobs her exquisitely femi- 
nine, almost childish, countenance, streaming with tears, was 
lifted upwards, and her hands wringing with anguish — uttered 
in deep convulsive bitterness, that ''Ai Jesus ! " in smothered 
tones again struck upon the startled ear. Long silence fol- 
lowed, unbroken save by sobs, as, sunk by its side, they em- 
braced the still, unconscious ashes. Slowly the deep grave 
voices of the monks rose in solemn tones, and as their mourn- 
ful chant sank into deep bass, at intervals was it taken up by 
a single female voice in the choir, which, high above the 
organ tones, with surpassing sweetness ascended higher, 
higher, until every nook in the lofty arches above appeared 
filled and overflowing with the rich melody ; then, descend- 
ing lower, lower, lower, the imagination wildly sought it in 
the passing wind. The monks drew near with uplifted and 
extended hands, muttering in low tones their benediction ; 
then crossing themselves, encircling the corse on bended 
knees, with eyes lifted up to heaven, uttered, in loud voices : 

" Ora pro illo — mater miserecordia;," 

" Salvator Hominum — Ora pro illo " 

''Ora pro illo,'' again rose like a startled spirit from the 
choir, that single female voice rising with an intensity 
that made the old walls re-echo the petition, and then, de- 



BREN TON'S REEF I 67 

scending like the fluttering of a wounded bird, it became 
less, less, and all was still. 

After a brief interval, leaning in apparent stupor upon 
the arms of the affectionate retainers, the ladies, slowly with- 
drawing, passed again the chancel's entrance, and the sacred 
procession raising the body, with melancholy chant bore it 
to the lower part of the chapel. I heard the clank of iron as 
the rusty portal of the family sepulchre reluctant turned 
upon its hinges ; and then rested from its human journey 
that corse forever. I made inquiries, but could learn nought 
about the actors in the scene other than that they were 
strangers — a noble family from the Havana ; that the father, 
invalid, had died in crossing the sea, and the usual story of 
Spanish love, and jealousy, and revenge, had consigned the 
son and brother, in the bloom of his days, by duel, to his 
grave ; and subsequently, that the mother and sister had 
closed the history of the family, dying, broken-hearted, in 
the convent to which they had retired. 

But, here we are, at the wharf. Our rapid journey ap- 
proaches now its termination. A few short hours, and we 
shall again be merged in the ceaseless din of the city ; the 
fair and tranquil face of nature change for the anxious 
countenances of our fellow men ; the joyous carol of the 
birds, the soft forest breeze, and the sea-beach ripple, for 
paved streets and our daily round of duty and of labor. 
We have found " a world beyond Verona's walls." Perhaps 
at future time we may again travel it together. Till then, 
thanking you for your " right good and joUie " compan}' — 
Farewell ! 



OLD TRINITY STEEPLE. 

(Broadway, near the Bowling-Green.) 



GROUND covered ivitJi ice — Furious storm of snoiv and 
sleet — Tzvo ge^itlemen becloaked and beviuffled, hurrying 
in different directions, come in full contact, and, iniitnally 
recoiling, hasten to make apology. 

My dear sir, a thousand pardons! "No, indeed, sir; 
'twas I — I was the offending party." No, I assure you ; I 
— I — Eh! is it? It is ! — my old friend, the reader. Why, 
my dear friend, you came upon me as if you had been dis- 
charged from a catapult ; a Paixhan shot was nothing to 
you ! But where so fast in the fury of the storm ; not to 
Union Square? Heavens! man, 3''ou will never reach 
there living ; why, in this horrid cold the spirits of Nova 
Zembla and Mont Blanc are dancing in ecstasy about the 
fountains in the parks, and the very cabs are frozen on their 
axles ! Never think of it. Come, come with me to my 
rooms hard by in State Street, and, on the word of a bache- 
lor and a gentleman, I'll promise to make you comfortable. 
Come, take my arm ; whew ! how this northwester sweeps 
around the Battery ! Here we are ; this is the house ; a real 
aristocratic old mansion ; is it not ? Enter, my dear friend ; 
run up the stairs. Holloa! ho! Scip, Scipio, Africanus, 
Angel of Darkness, come forth, come forth ! Ay ! here you 



OLD TRINITY STEEPLE I 69 

are. And you, too, shaggy old Neptune, your eyes spark- 
ling with delight, and your long tongue hanging out over 
your white teeth; down, you old rascal; down, sir; down! 
Now, is not this snug and comfortable ; a good roaring fire 
of hickory ? None of your sullen red-hot anthracite for me ! 
How the cold wind howls through the leafless trees upon 
the Battery! Draw the curtains, Scip; come, bear a hand, 
take the reader's hat and coat. Invest him with the wadded 
damask dressing-gown that Tom sent home from Cairo ; 
and the Turkish slippers ; so, so, now bring me mine ; place 
the well-stuffed easy chairs ; roll the round table up between 
us ; bring in the lights. Now, reader, at your elbow, lo ! 
provision for your wants, material and mental, genuine old 
Farquhar and amber Golden Sherry ; the Chateaux I got 
years since from Lynch ; and just opened is that box of gen- 
uine Regalias. Only smell ! " Fabrica de Tabacos, Calle-a- 
Leon, En la Habana, No. 14." Is it not Arabia's perfume ? 
Ha ! give me your smoking Spaniard in his sombrero ; e'er 
any a half-naked Bedouin of them all ; or if indeed you do 
prefer it, there stands the chibouque coiled up in the corner, 
and the metaphysical German's meerschaum on the shelf. 
There are biscuit and anchovies, and olives, " old Cheshire," 
and other inviting things for your wants physical ; and for 
your mental, lo ! uncut and damp from the publishers with 
the regular new-book smell — the North American, Old 
Blackwood, the Quarterly, the Edinburgh Review, and 
other Maga's ; and by a slight curve of thy vertebras cervical, 
behold, shining through yon glazed doors, glowing in gold, 
dross to the gold within, the great master bard of England; 
Cervantes, the chosen spirits of Italia and Gaul; Irving, 
worthy to be called Washington ; and Halleck, genuine son 



170 



OLD TRINITY STEEPLE 



of the voyagers in the Mayflower ; and of literature much 
other goodly store. 

Now, Scip! Lord of the Gold Coast, throw more wood 
upon^the fire. Ay! that will do, my good old faithful ser- 
vant, that will do. Now take that pepper and salt head of 
thine down to the kitchen hearth, there to retail thy legend 
and goblin story, or ensconce thee in the corner at thy will ; 
Ah ! hah, old Neptune, snug in thy place upon the hearth- 
rug, thy nose lying between thy outstretched paws as thou 
lookest intently in the fire, bless thine honest heart ! 
thinking, I warrant me, of the beautiful child whom thou 
didst leap the Battery bridge to save. How bravely thou 
didst bear the little sufferer up on the fast rushing tide. 
The grateful father would have bought thee for thy weight 
in gold, as thou didst lie panting and half exhausted ; but 
look not so wistfully, my dog ; a sack of diamonds could not 
purchase thee. No, never do we part till death steps in 
between us — and, by my faith, an' thou goest first, thou 
shalt have Christain burial. 

Now, dear reader, as thou reclinest comfortably in that 
big arm-chair, thy feet in Ottoman slippers resting on the 
fender, the blue smoke of thy cigar wreathing and curling 
around thy nose as it ascends in placid clouds and floats in 
misty wreaths above thy forehead, the glass of Chateaux, 
like a ruby resting upon its slender stem of light, quivering 
at thy elbow, and that open Blackwood upon thy knee, dost 
not, — confess it I — dost not feel more kind and charitable than 
if, with benumbed fingers, thou wert following a frozen vis- 
age to thy distant mansion in the great city's far purlieus ? 

But, heaven guard us ! how savagely the tempest roars 
and howls around the chimney-tops. Good angels preserve 



OLD TRINITY STEEPLE I7I 

the poor mariner as he ascends the ice-clad rigging, lays out 
upon the slippery yard, and handles with frost-benumbed 
fingers the rigid canvas folds. Ah ! I recollect, it was in just 
such a night as this, a few years since, 3'ears that have rolled 
past into retrogade eternity, that I was seated in that same 
arm-chair, in the same bachelor independence, the fire burn- 
ing just as brightly; the curtains as snugly drawn; my 
beautiful Flora looking down with the same sweetness from 
her frame above the mantle ; my snow-white Venus between 
the piers ; the Gladiator stretching forth his arm in just 
such proud defiance from his pedestal ; my Rembrandt, 
Claude and Rubens flickering in softness in the fire-light ; 
the Fonarina and St. Cecilia, with vase of incense clasped 
and upturned eyes of deep devotion, hanging in the same 
placid stillness between their silken tassels, and that -^olian 
harp chiming just such wild and fitful strains; 'twas in just 
such a cold and inhospitable night, that, sitting with my 
legs extended upon the fender, I fell into a train of rather 
melancholy musings. 

The clock of St. Paul's slowly doled out the hour of mid- 
night, and it seemed as if, in the responsive a-l-l-'-s w-e-1-1 of 
the watchman, rendered indistinct by the distance, the spirit 
of the hour was bewailing in plaintive tones the annihilation 
of its being. Time's brazen voice announced to unheeding 
thousands, " Ye are rushing on eternity." 1 thought of my 
friends who had dropped off, one by one, from around me ; 
youth and old age had alike sunk into the abyss of death ; 
consumption, fever, palsy, had done their work ; the slight 
ripple of their exit had subsided, and all was still, as quiet 
and as beautiful as if they had never been. Among others, 
was poor Louisa S , in the prime of her youth and the 



172 OLD TRINITY STEEPLE 

bloom of her beauty. But one short week, she was the pride 
of her friends, the idol of her husband ; in another, the slow 
toll of the village bell announced her funeral. I shall never 
forget the scene. The soft yellow light of the declining sun 
was streaming through the lofty elms which bordered the 
rustic graveyard, painting their broad shadows on the vel- 
vet turf, as the procession of mourners slowly wended their 
way among the mounds which covered the decaying rem- 
nants of mortality. Leaning upon a tomb-stone near the 
fresh dug grave, I had awaited its arrival. The bier was 
placed upon the ground, the cofihn-lid thrown open, and 
friends looked for the last time upon the beautiful face, pal- 
lid and sharp in death. Her dark hair was parted upon her 
forehead, but the dampness of death had deprived it of its 
lustre, and her soft eyes were closed in the slumber from 
whence they were never again to wake. I gazed long and 
painfully upon that face, which appeared to repose only in 
serene and tranquil sleep, while the sobbing group reached 
forward to catch a last and parting glimpse of it in its love- 
liness. I could not realize that the lovely form was still for- 
ever. The coffin-lid was replaced in silence, a suppressed 
whisper from the sexton, a harsh grating of the cords, and 
the gaping pit received its prey. While the clergyman, in 
his deep and gloomy voice, was pronouncing the burial ser- 
vice of the dead, I looked around upon the uncovered group ; 
the mother and sister in unrestrained sobs gave vent to their 
anguish, but the husband stood, his eyes fixed upon the 
grave, in deep and silent agony. He moved not, but when 
the dead heavy clamp of earth and stones fell upon the cof- 
fin, which contained the remains of all that was dear to him, 
he gave a gasp, as if he had received a death-wound, but that 



OLD TRIXITY STEEPLE 1 73 

was all ; the thick, convulsive breathing, and the swollen 
arteries upon his temples, showed that his was the bitterness 
of despair. Ere long, his wasted form, beneath its own green 
hillock, rested at her side. 

I had sat some time, thinking " of all the miseries that 
this world is heir to," when gradually my room became 
mazy, the tongs and fender were blended into one, the fire 
slowly disappeared, and, to my utter horror and astonish- 
ment, I found myself swinging upon the weather-cock of 
Trinity Church steeple. How I came there I could not tell, 
but there I was. Far, far below me, I saw the long rows of 
lamps in Broadway and the adjoining streets shining in lines 
of fire ; while here and there the glimmer of those upon the 
carriages, as they rolled along, resembled the ignis fatui in 
their ghostly revels upon the morass. The bay lay in the 
distance, glittering in the moonlight, a sea of silver, the 
islands and fortresses like huge monsters resting upon its 
bosom. All nature appeared at rest. An instant, and but 
an instant, I gazed in wild delight upon the scene ; but, as the 
novelty vanished, the dreadful reality of my situation became 
apparent. I looked above me — the stars were trembling in 
the realms of space. I looked below, and shuddered at the 
distance. I tried to believe that I was in a dream ; but that 
relief was denied me. I grew wnld with fear ; I madly called 
for help ; I screamed, I yelled, in desperation. Alas ! my 
voice could not be heard one-half the distance to earth. I 
called on angels, Heaven, to assist me ; but the cold wind 
alone answered, as it rushed around the steeple in its whistle 
of contempt. As my animal spirits were exhausted, I be- 
came more calm. I perceived that the slender iron upon 
which the weather-cock was fixed was slowly bending with 



I 74 OLD TRINITY STEEPLE 

the weight of my body, already benumbed with cold. Al- 
though it was madness, 1 ventured a descent. Moving with 
extreme caution, I clasped the spire in my arms, I slid down 
inch by inch. The cold sweat poured off my brow, and the 
blood, curdling in my veins, rushed back in thick and suffo- 
cating throbs upon my heart. I grasped the steeple tighter 
in my agony, my nails were clenched in the wood, but in 
vain ; slip, slip, the steeple enlarged as I descended ; my 
hold relaxed ; the flat palms of my hands pressed the sides, 
as I slid down with frightful rapidity. Could I but catch 
the ledge below ! 1 succeeded — I clutched it in my bleed- 
ing fingers ; for a moment I thought that I was safe, but I 
swung over the immense height in an instant; the wind 
dashed me from side to side like a feather. I strove to touch 
the sides of the steeple with my knees. I could not reach 
it ; my strength began to fail ; I felt the muscles of my 
fingers growing weaker. The blackness of despair came 
over me. My fingers slid from the ledge ; down, down, I 
plunged — one dash upon the roof, and I was stretched mo- 
tionless upon the pavement. 

A crowd collected around me. I heard them commis- 
erating my fate. They looked at me, and then at the stee- 
ple, as if measuring the distance from whence I had fallen ; 
but they offered no assistance. They dispersed. 1 slowly 
raised myself on my feet; all was cold and still as the grave. 
Regions of ice, an immense transparent mirror, extended on 
every side around me. The cold, smooth plain was only 
measured by the horizon. I found myself on skates ; I 
rushed along, outstripping the winds ; I ascended moun- 
tains of ice ; 1 descended like a meteor ; Russia, with her 
frozen torrents, Siberia, with its eternal snows, were behind 



OLD TRINITY STEEPLE I'J ^ 

me; miles and degrees were nothing; on I rushed ; Iceland 
vanished ; with the speed of a thunderbolt I passed Spitz- 
bergen ; days, weeks expired, but still I sped forward, with- 
out fatigue, without exhaustion. How delightfully I glided 
along ; no effort, no exertion, all was still, cold and brilliant. 
I neared the pole ; the explorers were slowly wending their 
tedious way ; they hailed me, but I could not stop ; I was 
out of sight in an instant. 1 saw an immense object swing- 
ing to and fro in the distance ; it was the great and mighty 
pendulum. As I neared it, a confused noise of voices broke 
upon my ear ; mathematical terms echoed and re-echoed 
each other like the hum of a bee-hive. I was surrounded 
with winged chronometers, barometers and magnets ; plus 
(+), minus ( — ) and the roots (v'v') were flying around me 
in every direction, jostling each other without mercy. 
Every instrument of science appeared collected in solemn 
conclave, for great and mighty purpose ; but soon all was 
hubbub and confusion. But amid the uproar, the giant pen- 
dulum still swung forward and backward with the noiseless 
motion of the incubus ; I neared it and saw that the top of 
the huge rod was riveted by the pole star, which shone with 
the intensity of the diamond. But, but — 

I saw^ the ship approaching among the distant icebergs, 
the great lordly icebergs ; how the}- rolled and roared and 
ground against each other in the heavy surge! their huge 
sides now shining great sheets of silver ; now glancing with 
the deep blue of the precious sapphire ; now quivering in 
the sun's rays, with all the hues of the grass-green emerald 
and blazing ruby. Ha! I saw her; I saw the gallant ship 
threading her way among them, as their castellated sides 
towered mountain-like above her. I made one spring, one 



176 OLD TRINITY STEEPLE 

gallant spring, and, catching by her top-mast, slid down in 
safety to her decks. Her sails were spread widely to the 
winds, and recklessly we ploughed our course onward 
through the icy flood ; but now her speed diminished, now 
we scarcely moved. The rudder creaked lazily from side to 
side, and the long pennant, supinely resting on the shrouds, 
languidly lifted itself as if to peer into the dark flood, and 
then, serpent-like, settled itself again to its repose. A sullen 
distant roar began to break upon my ear ; it increased ; our 
before quiet bark, hastening, rushed onwards as if ashamed 
of her dull reverie ; but still there was no wind ; the sea was 
smooth and placid, but the swelling surge was thrown for- 
ward from her bows by the increasing velocity with which 
we dashed along. The rushing noise of waters increased, 
and sounded like distant thunder ; the white surges showed 
themselves in the distance, leaping and jumping with fright- 
ful violence. I approached the captain ; his gloomy brow, 
the ghastly paleness of the crew, as with folded arms they 
stood looking in the distance, alarmed me. I eagerly asked 
the cause of the appearances before me. He answered not. 
He stood immovable as a statue. But, in a cold unearthly 
voice, a scar-marked sailor groaned, " We are food for the 
Maelstrom ! " Can we not, I frantically exclaimed, oh ! 
can we not escape ? Bend every sail, ply every oar — " Too 
late, too late," echoed again the gloomy voice ; " our doom is 
sealed." The finger of the speaker pointed to a fiendish 
figure at the helm, who, with a low hellish laugh, was steer- 
ing for the midst. The raging waves boiled and roared 
around us ; our fated ship plunged forward ; a steady resist- 
less power sucked us in ; on we were hurried to our fright- 
ful goal. The whale, the leviathan, swept by us; their im-- 



OLD TRINITY STEEPLE I 77 

mense bodies were thrown almost entirely in the air ; their 
blood stained the foaming brine ; they roared like mad bulls. 
The zig-zag lightning in the black canopy above us was 
reflected in fiery showers from the spray ; the thunder min- 
gled with the yells of the struggling monsters ; their efforts 
were vain ; more power had infants in giants' hands; the de- 
vouring whirlpool claimed us for its own. On we were 
borne in unresisting weakness ; faster and faster; circle after 
circle disappeared; we were on the edge of the furious 
watery tunnel ; we were buried in its depths ; the long arms 
of the loathsome polypi stretched forward to seize us in their 
foul embrace — but an unseen hand raised me. 

Green woods, gardens, fountains and grottoes were 
around me. Beautiful flowers, roses, hyacinths, and lilies 
clustering in immense beds, covered the ground with one 
great gem'd and emerald carpet. The gorgeous tulip, the 
amaranthus and moss rose vied with each other in fragrant 
rivalry, and the modest little violet claimed protection in 
the embraces of the myrtle. Fountains poured mimic cat- 
aracts into their marble basins, or, spouting from the mouths 
of sphinxes and lions, ascended in crystal streams, irrigating 
with copious showers the party-colored beds beneath. The 
long vistas were shaded with the magnolia and flowering 
almond, while snow-white statues watched the beautiful 
picture of happiness around. Birds of variegated color and 
splendid plumage were flying from tree to tree, and it ap- 
peared as if in their sweet notes, and the fragrance of the 
flowers, nature was offering up her incense to the Creator. 

I was invigorated with new life ; I ran from alley to 
alley; delicious fruits tempted my taste; the perfumes of 
Arabia floated in the earthly paradise ; music floated around ; 



1^8 OLD TRINITY STEEPLE 

trains of beautiful girls moved in graceful ballets before me; 
their slender forms were clad in snow-white robes ; their 
girdles gemmed with diamonds ; their alabasternecks twined 
with wreaths of roses. A joyous laugh burst from them, as 
they danced, now in circles, now advancing, now retreat- 
ing. The circle opened ; a veiled figure was in the midst; 
I approached ; the fairies disappeared; the veil was slowly 
lifted, one moment ; my Cora ! we were alone ; we wandered 
from bower to bower; her small white hand, with electric 
touch, was within my delighted grasp ; her golden ringlets 
mingled with my raven locks; her dark e3'es melted into 
mine. I fell upon my knee ; a cold and grizzly skeleton met 
my embrace ; the groups of houris were changed into bands 
of shriveled hags ; in place of wreaths of roses, their shriv- 
eled necks were covered with the deadly nightshade and 
dank mandragora ; forked adders and serpents twined upon 
their long and bony arms ; I shuddered ; I was chained in 
horror to the spot ; they seized me ; they dragged me down- 
ward to the dank and noisome vault. 'Twas light as day ; 
but 'twas a sti'ange light, a greenish haze, sickly and poison- 
ous as if the deadly miasma of the fens had turned to flame. 
The dead men with burning lamps were sitting on their 
coffins, their chins resting upon their drawn-up knees, and 
as I passed along the extended rows, their eyes all turned 
and followed me, as the eyes of portraits from the canvas. 
Ha ! what cadaverous unearthly stare met me at every turn; 
I looked on all sides to avoid them, but still, where'er I 
turned, the ghastly muffled faces, with their blanched lips, 
and deep sunken eyes livid in their sockets, surveyed me 
with frightful interest ; and that fierce old hag, how she 
preceded me, step by step, her finger pointing forward, 



OLD TRIXITY STEEPLE I 70 

while her Medusa head was turned triumphantly over her 
shoulder, with its infernal leer upon my cowering form. 
Worlds would I have given to have been out from among 
the ghastly crew, but a spell was on me, and I hurriedly 
made the circuit of the vault, like a wild beast in his cage. 
But the old knight, sitting grim and ghastly as if by con- 
straint, in the lone corner, his long grizzly beard flowing o'er 
his winding-sheet — how his cold grey eye glanced at 
his long two-handed sword before him, as I passed, as if to 
clutch it! I plucked the old grey beard for very ire; ha! 
what a malignant and discordant yell did then salute my 
horror-struck senses ! I gave one bound of terror, and burst 
the prison door, and — and — 

My noble white charger leaped clear of the earth, as he 
felt my weight in the saddle. I was at the head of an im- 
mense army ; my bold cuirassiers formed a moving mass of 
iron around me. The bugle sounded the signal for engage- 
ment ; peal after peal of musketry flashed from the dark 
masses; the rattling reverberating roar rolled from right to 
left ; the gaping throats of the cannon announced in broad 
flashes the departure of their messengers upon the journe}' 
of death. On we rushed, battalion on battalion ; we stormed 
the redoubt. "Charge!" I shouted, "charge the villains! 
men of the fifth legion, follow your leader; hurrah! they 
bear back." I seize the standard from a fallen soldier ; I 
plant it upon the blood-stained parapet; horrible con- 
fusion ! the trenches are choked with dead. Hah ! brave 
comrade, beware ! his bayonet is at thy shoulder — 'tis buried 
in thy heart. I will avenge thee! I dashed upon him; we 
fought like tigers ; we rolled upon the ground ; I seized my 
dagger; the bright steel glittered ; thousands of deep hoarse 



l8o OLD TRINITY STEEPLE 

voices wildly roared : " The mine, the mine ! beware, be- 
ware !" Flash ! roar! bodies, earth, rocks, horses, tumbrils, 
all descending-, covered me ; and — and — 

I awoke ; the fender and fire-irons upset with horrid din 
and clatter ; the table, its lights and tea-set hurled around ; 
and myself, with might and main striving with mighty effort 
to get from beneath the prostrate wreck, which in my terror 
I had dragged above me. Old Neptune, aghast, howled in 
consternation, from the corner, while a group of fellow- 
boarders, half dead with laughter and amazement, were 
staring through the open door in wonder at such unusual 
uproar from the lodger in quiet " No. VI." 



OLD SCIPIO. 



BUT hark! Old Scipio is fast asleep and snoring like 
Falstaff behind the arras. Now that old negro is as 
assuredly dreaming of witches, or wrecks, or pirates, 
or ghosts, that have been seen flitting about the burying- 
grounds and country church-yards at midnight, as he sits 
there. He is somewhere between eighty and one hundred, 
he does not exactly know which ; but as your negro keeps 
no family record, it is safe to allow a lee-way of some ten 
years in the calculation of his nativity. Of his genealogy 
though, he is quite sure, for he proves beyond a doubt, that 
he is the son of Job, who was the son of Pomp, who was 
the son of Caleb, who was the son of Cassar, who was the 
son of Cudjoe, who was caught in Africa. His whole life 
has been passed in and about the shores of Long Island 
Sound, and he is not only a veritable chronicle of the mili- 
tary adventures that have been enacted upon its borders in 
the American wars, but his head is a complete storehouse, 
stuffed to overflowing with all sorts of legendary lore of 
wrecks, of pirates, of murders and fights, and deeds unholy, 
of massacres, bombardments and burnings, all jumbled up 
in such inexplicable confusion, history and legend, truth 
and fiction, that it is almost impossible to divide the one 
from the other. Sometimes in the cold winter nights, when 
the storm is howling, as it does now, I put him upon the 
track, and upon my word, the influence of his gossip told in 



I 82 OLD SCIPIO 

drowsy undertone is such, that I find it a matter of serious 
question, whether the most monstrous things in the way of 
the supernatural, are by any means matter of wonderment ; 
and fully concede, that men may have been seen walking 
about with their heads under their arms, vanishing in smoke 
upon being addressed ; that old fishermen have sculled about 
the creeks and bays in their coffins, after they were dead 
and buried ; that gibbets are of necessity surrounded by 
ghosts, and that prophecies and predictions, and witchcraft 
are, and must be, true as holy writ. 

Indeed, with all the sad realities of life about me, I find 
it refreshing to have my soul let loose occasionally, to wan- 
der forth, to frolic and gambol, and stare, without any con- 
ventional rule, or let, or hindrance to restrain it. In how 
many adventures has that good old negro, quietly sleeping 
in the corner, been my guide and pilot. In our shooting, 
and fishing and sailing excursions, the shores of the Sound 
became as familiar to us as our own firesides, and the dark 
black rocks, with their round and kelp-covered sides, as the 
faces of old friends and acquaintances. 

At a little village upon the western borders of Long 
Island Sound I passed my school-boy days, and there it was 
that the old negro, formerly a slave, but long liberated, and 
in part supported by my family, had his hut. There it was 
that under his influence I thoroughly contracted the love of 
adventure which, in the retrospect, still throws a sort of 
world of my own around me. All sport, whether in winter 
or summer, night or day, rain or shine, was alike to me the 
same, and sooth to say, if sundry floggings, for truant days, 
had been administered to Old Scip instead of me, the scale 
of justice had not unduly preponderated ; for his boats, and 



OLD SCIPIO 183 

rods, and nets, to say nothing of his musket which had be- 
longed to a Hessian, and the long bell-mouthed French fusee, 
were always sedulously and invitingly placed at my control. 
The old negro was sure to meet me as 1 bounded from the 
school-room with advice of how the tides would serve, and 
how the game would lie, and his words winding up his in- 
formation in a low confidential undertone still ring upon my 
ear, " P'rhaps young massa like to go wid old nigger." 

His snug little hut do\vn at the creek-side was covered, 
and patched, and thatched, with all the experiments of years 
to add to its warmth and comfort; its gables nnd chimney 
surmounted with little weathercocks and windmills spinning 
most furiously at every whiff of wind, its sides covered with 
muskrat and loon skins nailed up to dry, and fishing-rods 
and spears of all sizes and dimensions piled against them, 
the ducks and geese paddling about the threshhold and his 
great fat hog grunting m loving proximity to the door-way ; 
while its interior was garnished with pots and kettles and 
other culinary utensils, the trusty old musket hanging on its 
hooks above the chimney place, the fish-nets and bird-decoys 
lying in the corners, and the whitewashed walls garnished 
and covered with pictures and colored prints of the most 
negro taste, indigo and scarlet, naval fights, men hanging on 
gibbets, monstrous apparitions which had been seen, lament- 
able ballads, and old Satan himself in veritable semblance, 
tail, horns and claws, precisely as he appeared in the year 
Anno Domini 1763; and under the little square mahogany 
framed fly-specked looking-glass, his Satanic Majesty again 
in full scarlet uniform as British Colonel with a party of 
ladies and gentlemen playing cards, his tail quietly curled 
around one of the leg's of his arm-chair, and the horse-hoof 



184 <^^^ SCIPIO 

ill disguised by the great rose upon his shoe. But Scip was 
safe against all such diabolical influence, for he had the 
charmed horse-shoe firmly nailed over the entrance of his 
door. 

How often have I silently climbed out of my window and 
stealthily crept down the ladder which passed it, long and long 
before the dawn, with my fowling-piece upon my shoulder, 
and by the fitful moonhght wended, half scared, my way 
through the rustic roads and lanes, leaping the fences, sat- 
urated with the night-dew from the long wet grass, the stars 
twinkling in the heavens, as the wild scudding clouds passed 
o'er them, and nothing to break the perfect stillness. How 
often at such times have I stopped and stared at some sus- 
picious object looming up before me, till, mustering courage, 
1 have cocked my piece and, advancing at a trail, discovered 
in the object of my terror a dozing horse, or patient ox, or 
cow quietly ruminating at the road-side. 

How often have I sprung suddenly aside, my hair stand- 
ing on end, as a stealthy fox or prowling dog rushed by me 
into the bushes, and felt my blood tingle to my very fingers' 
ends, as some bird of prey raised himself with an uneasy 
scream and settled again upon the tree-tops, as I passed be- 
neath. How I used to screw my courage up as, with long 
strides and studiously averted eyes, I hurried past the 
dreaded grave-yard ; and as I came upon the borders of the 
winding creek, and walked splashing through its ponds and 
shallows, how would I crouch and scan through the dim 
light to catch a glimpse of some stray flock of ducks or 
teal, that might be feeding upon its sedges. How would I 
bend and stoop as I saw them delightfully huddled in a 
cluster, till getting near I would find an envious bend of 



OLD SCIPIO 185 

long distance to be measured before I could get a shot. 
How patiently would I creep along, and stop, and crouch, 
and stop, till getting near, and nearer, a sudden slump into 
some unseen bog or ditch would be followed by a quick 
"quack," "quack," and off they'd go, far out of reach of 
shot or call. But all would be forgotten when I reached the 
old Negro's hut. There a hot corn-cake and broiled fish or 
bird was always on the coals to stay my appetite, and then 
off we'd sally to the bar to lie in wait for the wild fowl as they 
came over at day-break. The snipe in little clouds would 
start up with their sharp " pewhit " before us, as we meas- 
ured the broad hard flats left damp and smooth by the re- 
ceding tide ; the Kildare with querulous cry would wing 
away his flight, and the great gaunt cranes, looming, spectre- 
like, in the moonHght, sluggishly stalking onwards, would 
clumsily lift their long legs in silence as we advanced, and 
fan themselves a little farther from our proximit}-. 

Arriving, we would lay ourselves down, and on the stones 
await the breaking of the dawn, when the wild fowl feeding 
within the bay arise and fly to the southward over it. Dark 
objects, one after another, would glide by us, and in silence 
take their places along the bar, bent on the same sport that 
we were awaiting, and nothing would break the stillness 
save the gentle wash and ripple of the waves upon the sands, 
or the uneasy and discordant cry of the old wives, feeding 
on the long sedge within the wide-extended bay. The stars 
would ere long begin to fade, the east grow gray, then 
streaked with light, and every sportsman's piece be cocked 
with eager expectation. A flash, a puff of smoke at the ex- 
treme end, showed that a flock had risen, and simultaneously 
birds would be seen tumblinir headlonsf. As the astonished 



1 86 OLD SCI no 

flock glanced along the bar — flash — flash — puff — bang, would 
meet them, their numbers thinning at each discharge, till, 
passing along the whole line of sportsmen, they would be 
almost annihilated ; or, wildly dashing through some wider 
interval in the chain of gunners, they would cross the bar 
and escape in safety. Then as the light increased followed 
the excitement; the birds getting up in dense flocks, all 
bent in one direction, a complete feu-de-joie saluted them — 
flash — flash — flash — the reports creeping slowly after, the 
wild fowl tumbling headlong, some into the water, and some 
on the sportsmen ; while here a gunner, dropping his piece, 
might be seen rushing in up to his neck recklessly after his 
victim, and there some stauncli dog's nose just above the 
surface, unweariedly pursuing the wing-broken sufferer, 
which still fluttered forward at his near approach. Ah, ha! 
that — that was sport. Hundreds of wild fowl, from the 
little graceful teal to the great fishy loon and red-head brant, 
were the fruits of the morning's adventure. And what a 
contrast the sparkling eyes and glowing faces of the elated 
sportsmen to the city's pale and care-worn countenances. 
They were a true democracy, white man, and black, and 
half-breed, the squire and the plowman, all met in like 
equality. 



THE PEOUOT. 



AMONG the sportsmen on the bar at the season that I 
have just described there was always found a tall, 
gaunt, taciturn old Indian, who passed among the 
people by the name of " Pequot." His hut was about a 
mile beyond Scipio's, on the same creek, and, like him, he 
obtained his support mainly by the fruits of his hunting and 
fishing. Now and then, in the harvest, or when the game 
was scarce, he would assist the farmers in their lighter work, 
receiving, with neither thanks nor stipulation, such recom- 
pense as they saw fit to make ; and sometimes, in the cold 
depths of winter, he would appear, and, silently sitting at 
their firesides, receive as a sort of right his trencher at their 
tables. He was so inoffensive to all around him that he was 
always sure of welcome. But there was a feature in his 
character unusual to the Indian's nature, which was his dis- 
like to ardent spirits. He was a great deal at Scipio's hut, 
and I was struck with the harmony which subsisted between 
two characters so apparently dissimilar, the sullen, haughty 
Indian and the light-hearted, laughter-loving negro ; but 
there was a sort of common sympathy, of oppression, I sup- 
pose, between them, for they always assisted one another, 
and sometimes were gone for days together in their fishing 
expeditions on the Sound. All the information that Sci[)io 
could give about him was that he was supposed to have 
come in from some of the Western tribes, and that from his 



I 88 THE PEQUOT 

haunting a great deal about a neighboring swamp, where the 
gallant tribe of Pequots had long years before been massa 
cred by fire and sword, the people had given him the name 
of Pequot. Whatever he was he was a fine old Indian. The 
poetry of the character was left, while contact with the 
whites and the kind teachings of the Moravians had hewn 
away the sterner features of the savage. Even old Scip 
showed him habitual deference, for there was a melancholy 
dignity about him. I recollect once being taken aback by 
the display of a burst of feeling which let me into his ideal 
claims and pretensions. 

There was a good-natured old Indian by the name of 
Pamanack, belonging to one of the tribes which still clung 
to Long Island in the vicinity of Montauket, who occasion- 
ally made his appearance off old Scip's hut, in the Sound, in 
his periogue, accompanied by some half dozen long-legged, 
straight-haired, copper-colored youths, his descendants. 
They every now and then came cruising along the various 
fishing-grounds, and always, when in the vicinity of Scip, 
the old Indian would pay him a visit and receive a return 
for the hospitality paid to the black man when in his similar 
excursions he got as far eastward as Montauket. On the 
particular occasion to which I have alluded old Pamanack 
had drank more than was good for him, when the Pequot 
presented himself silently at the door of old Scipio's hut, and 
leaning upon his long ducking-gun looked in upon the group. 
After a few words of recognition passed between them 
Pamanack held out his black bottle and invited the visitor 
to drink. Pequot drew himself up, and for a moment there 
was a mingled expression of loathing and ferocity flashing 
from his countenance that showed his Indian's nature in a 



THE PEQUOT I 89 

blaze ; but it was only momentary, for in another the expres- 
sion vanished from his countenance, the habitual melancholy 
resumed its place upon his features, and the words fell slow- 
ly from his lips : " The fire water, the fire water ; ay, the 
same — the Indian and his deadly enemy." Then, looking 
steadily at Pamanack as he held the bottle still toward him : 
" Pequot will not drink. Why should Pamanack swallow 
the white man's poison and with his own hands dig his grave ? 
Pamanack is not alone. His squaw watches at the door of 
his wigwam as she looks out upon the long weaves of the 
ocean tumbling in upon the shores of Montauket. His 
young men gather about him and catch the tautog from its 
beetling rocks and tread out the quahog from its muddy bed. 
His old men still linger on the sand}^ beach, and their scalp- 
locks fioat wildly in the fresh sea-breeze. Pamanack has yet 
a home ; but Pequot, he is the last of his race. He stands on 
the high hills of Tashaway and sees no smoke but that from 
the wigwams of the Long Knives. He moves in silence 
along the plains of Pequonnuck, but the fences of the pale 
faces obstruct his progress. His canoe dances at the side of 
the dripping rocks, but the cheating white men paddle up to 
his side. His feet sink in the plowed field, but it is not the 
corn of the red man. His squaw has rolled her last log and 
lies cold in her blanket. His young men — the fire water and 
fire dust have consumed them. Pequot looks around for his 
people; where are they? The black snake and muskrat 
shoot through the water as his moccasin treads the swamp 
where their bones lie, deep covered from the hate of their 
enemies. Pequot is the last of his race. He cannot drink 
the fire water, for his young men have sunk from its deadly 
poison as the mist-wreath in the midday sun. The good 
Moravians have told him that it is bad, and Pequot will 



190 THE FEQUOT 

drink no more, for his race is nearly run. Pequot will sit on 
the high rocks of Sasco, and his robe shall fall from his 
shoulders as his broad chest waits the death arrow of the 
Great Spirit. There will he sit and smoke in silence as he 
looks down upon the deserted hunting-grounds of his fathers. 
Pequot's heart is heavy." As he finished the last words he 
abruptly turned, and was soon far distant on the sands, mov- 
ing toward the high hill of which he had spoken. The 
Great Spirit was kind to him, for a few years after he was 
found stark and stiff, frozen to death on the very rocks to 
which he had alluded. As for ol'd Pamanack, he did not 
appear to hold the fire water in such utter abhorrence ; for, 
taking a long swig at the bottle, his eye following the retir- 
ing form of the Pequot, he slowly muttered : " Nigger 
drink, white man drink; why no Indian drink too ?" 



CAPTAIN KIDD. 



BUT the Sound! the Sound! How many delightful 
reminiscences does the name bring to m}'' recollec- 
tion ! The Sound, with its white sand-banks and its 
wooded shores ; its fair Broad bosom covered with fleets of 
sails scudding along in the swift breeze in the open day, and 
its dark waves rolling and sweeping in whole streams of 
phosphorescent fire from their plunging bows as they dash 
through it in the darkness of midnight. The Sound ! redo- 
lent with militar}' story. The Sound ! overflowing with 
legend and history. Reader, if you had been cruising along 
its shores from infancy, as I have ; if you had grown up 
among its legends and luxuriated in its wild associations ; if 
you had spent whole days on its broad sand-beaches, watch- 
ing the gulls as they sailed above you, or the snipe as they 
ran along on the smooth, hard flats ; if you had lain on the 
white, frozen snows on its shore in the still nights of mid- 
winter, your gun by your side, gazing till your soul was 
lost in the blue spangled vault as it hung in serene and tran- 
quil grandeur above you, your mind, in unconscious adora. 
tion, breathing whole volumes of gratitude and admiration 
to the great God that gave you faculties to enjoy its sub- 
limity, and in the stillness, unbroken save by the cry of the 
loon as he raised himself from the smooth water, seen in 
every sail moving in silence between you and the horizon 



I g 2 CAPTA IN KIDD 

the " Phantom Ship," or some daring buccaneer, and in every 
distant splash heard a deed of darkness and m3^stery— then 
could you enter into my feelings. 

To me its black rocks and promontories and islands are 
as familiar as the faces of a family. Are there not the 
" Brothers,"* unnatural that they are, who, living centuries 
together, never to one another have as yet spoken a kind- 
ly word, and the " Executioners,"* and " Throgs,"* and 
" Sands,"* and " Batons,"* all throwing hospitable lights 
from their high beacon towers, far forward, to guide the 
wandering mariner ; and the " Devil's Stepping-stones,"* 
o'er which he bounded when driven from Connecticut; and 
the great rocks, too, inside of Flushing bay on which he de- 
scended, shivering them from top to bottom as he fell. And 
are there not the " Norwalk Islands," with their pines ; 
" Old Sasco," with her rocks ; " Fairweather," with the wild 
bird's eggs resting on her sands, and the far-famed fishing- 
banks off the " Middle ground." Is it not from the whirl- 
pools of the " Gate " to " Gardiners," and the lone beacon 
tower of " Old Montuket," one continuous ground of lore 
and adventure? In her waters the " Fire ship " glared amid 
the darkness, her phantom crew standing at their quarters, 
as, rushing onwards in the furious storm, she passed the 
shuddering mariner. Beneath her sands the red-shirted buc- 
caneers did hide their ill-gotten, blood-spotted treasure, and 
'twas on her broad bosom that, with iron-seared conscience, 
sailed that Pirate, fierce and bold, old Robert Kidd ; to this 
very day his golden hoards, with magic mark and sign, still 
crowd her wooded shores. 

How, were he waking, old Scipio's eyes would upward 
* Rocks and Light Houses. 



C.l P TA IX KIDD I Q ■^ 

roll their whites, if he did but hear that name so dread and 
grim ! If, from very eagerness, he could utter forth his 
words, he would give whole chapters, ay ! one from his own 
family history, for it is said Kidd's men caught old Cudjoe, 
his great ancestor, clamming on the beach off Sasco, and 
without more ado carried him aboard. As the old negro 
was sulky, they tumbled his well-filled basket into the gal- 
ley's tank, and incontinently were about to run him up to 
dangle at their long yard-arm, when Kidd, who was taking 
his morning "drink of tobacco" on his poop, roared out in 
a voice of thunder: " Ho ! Scroggs, boatswain, dost hang a 
black-a-moor at my yard-arm, where so many gentlemen 
have danced on nothing? In the foul devil's name, scuttle 
the goggle-eyed fiend to the sharks overboard," and over- 
board he went, but, diving like a duck, he escaped their fire- 
locks' quick discharge, and reached the shore in safety. 

And his deep buried treasures ! Where went the gold 
dust from the coast of Guinea? the gems from Madagascar? 
the dollars and doubloons pirated from the Spanish galleons? 
the broken plate and crucifixes from the shores of Panama ? 
and where the good yellow gold, stamped with the visage 
of his most gracious majesty? Where? where, but on the 
haunted borders of this very Sound. Why, the very school- 
boys, playing in the woods upon its shores, know, when the 
earth doth hollow sound beneath their feet, that Kidd's 
treasure's buried there. Do they disturb it? No, not they ; 
they know too well the fierce and restless spirit that guards 
the iron pot. Didst ever hear the brave old ballad, " As he 
saird, as he sairdf It's a true old ballad, a time-honored 
old ballad ; it gives his veritable history. It has been sung 
time out of mind, been chanted by the old tars in the sultry 



I Q 4 CAPTA IN KIDD 

calms of the tropics, and the greasy whalers have kept time 
to it over their trying kettles on the smooth Pacific. It has 
been sung amid the icebergs of Greenland, and heard on the 
coast of New Holland ; the spicy breezes of Ceylon have 
borne it among the sleeping tigers in their jungles, and the 
Hottentots pulled tighter their breech-cloths as they have 
listened to its tones. The Chinese, and the Turks, and the 
Dutchmen, and the Danes, and everything human within 
the smell of salt water, have heard it, and that too in the 
rich manly tones of the English and American sailors. Ho ! 
Scip ! wake from out thy corner, and give us the old ballad. 
Shades of red-capped buccaneers ! fierce negro slavers ! spirits 
of the gallant men who fought the British on her shores ! 
desperate old Kidd in person! we conjure you, we conjure 
you, arise and hover around us, whilst we chant the lay. 
Ho! Scipio ! the old ballad, as it stood, smoke-blacked and 
grimed, upon thy cabin's walls ; ay ! that is it, and in tones 
which chime in unison with the dreary storm and howling 
blast without — 



" YE LAMENTABLE BALLAD, AND Y^ TRUE HISTORIE OF 
CAPTAIN ROBERT KIDD, ^VHO \YAS HANGED IN CHAINS 
AT EXECUTION DOCK, FOR PIRACY AND MURDER ON 
Y= HIGH SEAS." 



H« calleth upon the cap- 
tains: 



He stateth his name and 
acknowledgeth his wicked- 
ness: 



He beareth witness to the 
good counsel of his parents: 



He curseth his father and 
his mother dear: 



And blasphemeth against 
God: 



He burieth the Good Book 
in the sand: 



And murdereth William 
Moore: 



You captains bold and brave, hear our cries, hear our 
cries, 
You captains bold and lirave, hear our cries. 
You captains brave and bold, tho' you seem uncon- 
troll'd. 
Don't for the sake of gold lose your souls, lose your 
souls, 

Don't for the sake of gold lose your souls. 

My name was Robert Kidd, when I sail'd, when I 
sail'd, 

My name was Robert Kidd, when I sail'd. 
My name was Robert Kidd, God's laws I did forbid, 

And so wickedly I did, when I sail'd. 

My parents taught me well, when I sail'd, when I 
sail'd. 

My parents taught me well, when I sail'd. 
My parents taught me well to shun the gates of hell, 

But against them I rebelled, when I sail'd. 

I cursed my father dear, when I sail'd, when I sail'd, 
I cursed my father dear, when I sail'd, 

I cursed my father dear and her that did me bear. 
And so wickedly did swear, when I sail'd. 

I made a solemn vow, when I sail'd, when I sail'd, 

I made a solemn vow, when I sail'd, 
I made a solemn vow to God I would not bow. 

Nor myself one prayer allow, as I sail'd. 

I'd a Bible in my hand, when I sail'd, when I sail'd, 

I'd a Bible in my hand when I sail'd, 
I'd a Bible in my hand by my father's great command, 

And I sunk it in the sand, when I sail'd. 

I murdered ^Yilliam Moore, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 
I murdered William Moore, as 1 sail'd, 

I murdered William Moore, and left him in his gore, 
Not many leagues from shore, as I sail'd. 



196 



CAPTAIN KIDD 



And also cruelly killeth 
the gunner. 



His mate, being about to 
die, repenteth and warneth 
him in his career. 



He falleth sick, and prom- 
iseth repentance, but forget- 
teth his vows. 



He steereth thro' Lo 
Island and other Sounds. 



He chaseth three ships of 
France. 



And being cruel still, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 

And being cruel still, as I sail'd, 
And being cruel still, my gunner I did kill, 

And his precious blood did spill, as I sail'd. 

My mate was sick and died, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 
My mate was sick and died, as I sail'd, 

My irate was sick and died, which me much terrified, 
When he called me to his bedside, as I sail'd. 

And unto me he did say, see me die, see me die, 

And unto me did say, see me die, 
And unto me did say, take warning now by me. 

There comes a reckoning day, you must die. 

You cannot then withstand, when you die, when you 
die, 
You cannot then withstand, when you die, 
You cannot then withstand the judgments of God's 
hand, 
But bound then in iron bands, you must die. 

I was sick and nigh to death, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 
I was sick and nigh to death, as I sail'd, 

I was sick and nigh to death, and I vowed at every 
breath 
To walk in wisdom's ways, as I sail'd. 

I thought I was undone, as I sail'd, as I sail'd; 

I thought I was undone, as I sail'd, 
I thought I was undone, and my wicked glass had run, 

But health did soon return, as I sailed. 

My repentance lasted not, as I sail'd, as I sail'd. 

My repentance lasted not, as I sail'd. 
My repentance lasted not, my vows I soon forgot. 

Damnation's my just lot, as I sail'd. 

I steer'd from Sound to Sound, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 
I steer'd from Sound to Sound, as I sail'd, 

I steer'd from Sound to Sound, and many ships I found, 
And most of them I burn'd, as I sail'd. 

I spy'd three ships from France, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 
I spy'd three ships from France, as I sail'd, 

I spy'd three ships from France, to them I did advance. 
And took them all by chance, as I sailed. 



CAPTAIX KIDD 



197 



And also three ships of 
Spain. 



He boastelh of his treasure. 



He spyeth fourteen ships 
in pursuit, and surrenders. 



He biddeth farewell to the 
seas, and the raging main. 



He exhorteth the young 
and old to take counsel from 
his fate: 



And declareth that he 
must go to hell, and be pun- 
ished for his wickedness. 



I spy'd three ships of Spain, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 
I spy'd three ships of Spain, as I sail'd, 

I .spy'd three ships of Spain, I fired on them amain, 
Till most of them were slain, as I sail'd. 

I'd ninety bars of gold, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 

I'd ninety bars of gold, as I sail'd, 
I'd ninety bars of gold, and dollars manifold. 

With riches uncontroU'd, as I sail'd. 

Then fourteen ships I saw, as I sail'd, as I sail'd, 

Then fourteen ships I saw, as I sail'd, 
Then fourteen ships I saw, and brave men they are. 

Ah ! they were too much forme, as I sail'd. 

Thus being o'ertaken at last, I must die, I must die. 
Thus being o'ertaken at last, I must die, 

Thus being o'ertaken at last, and into prison cast. 
And sentence being pass'd, I must die. 

Farewell the raging sea, I must die, I must die, 

Farewell the raging main, I must die. 
Farewell the raging main, to Turkey, France, and 
Spain, 

I ne'er shall see you again, I must die. 

To Newgate now I'm cast, and must die, and must die. 
To Newgate now I'm cast, and must die. 

To Newgate I am cast, with a sad and heavy heart. 
To receive my just desert, I must die. 

To Execution Dock I must go, I must go. 

To Execution Dock I must go. 
To Execution Dock will many thousands flock, 

But I must beir the shock, I must die. 

Come all you young and old, see me die, see me die. 
Come all you young and old, see me die. 

Come all you young and old, you're welcome to my 
gold, 
For by it I've lost my soul, and must die. 

Take warning now by me, for I must die, for I must 
die. 
Take warning now by me, for I must die. 

Take warning now by me, and shun bad company, 
Eest you come to hell with me, for I must die. 
Lest you come to hell with me, for I must die. 



SPIRITIANA— No. I. 

HYDRACHOS. 



Cleopatra — Hast thou the pretty worm of Nihis there, 
That kills and pains not ? 

Clown — Truly I have him ; but I would not be the party that should desire you 
to touch him, for his biting is immortal ; those that do die of it, do 
seldom or never recover. 

Cleopatra — Get thee hence ; farewell. 

Clown — I wish you all joy of the worm. 

Cleopatra — Farewell. 

Clown — You must think this, look you, that the worm will do his kind. 

Cleopatra — Ay — ay, farewell. 

Clown — Look you, the worm is not to be trusted but in the keeping of wise peo- 
ple; for, indeed, there is no goodness in the worm. 

Cleopatra — Well, get thee gone; farewell. 

Anthony and Cleopatra. 

SCENE. — Hendrick's Cottage on the Heights at the Nar- 
rozvs. The Ocean ope}iing out to the Jiorizon. Staten 
Island, with its woods, green hills and fortifications, on the 
right; Fort Hamilton, Neiv Utrecht, and the fair farnis of 
Long Island on the left. On the rustic piazza, overshadowed by 
tivo giant hemlocks and the szvceping foliage of old zvillows, 
are seated, in luxuriant arm-chairs, zvith their legs zvell rested 
on stools in front, two gentlemen. {Betzveeri them, a round table, 
on zuhich, half filled zvith rich purple, rests a crystal pitcher of 
" Chateau Margaux," a diamond cut goblet of '' golden Sherry,'' 
a dusty, cobzvebbed bottle zvith a label, on zvhieh, dimly, is to be 
seen the word " Far guar,'' sundry condiments, fruits, old Cheshire, 
biscuits, et id onuic gemis,and a cedar box, the lid half off, " RE- 



SPIRIT! AX A 



199 



GALIA, 1840.") One, tall and slender — the "TALL SON OF 
York." The other in dressing-gown and slippers — ejus nomen 
Hendrick. The blue smoke of their Regalias rises in light 
clouds, and zvreathes and floats graecfully above their heads, 
luJiile the drozvsy note of the locusts in the o' erJianging trees, 
and the busy hum of the bees diving into the honey-suckles and 
flozvering vines, indicate the dreamy quiescence of a summer s 
afternoon. 

The Tall Son* (%?«V?/r).— By Jupiter ! Hendrick, but 
this is a beautiful scene that Nature has so lavishly spread 
before you. No wonder that your bays leave punctually at 
three to carry you from the heated walls of Old Gotham. 
A magnificent prospect ! How grandly old Ocean stretches 
onward to the embrace of the distant horizon! The ships, 
with their bellying canvas, seem like things of dreams, 
sleeping upon his broad bosom. And see! the fleecy clouds 
now hurrying on, and now hanging motionless in the blue 
canopy above. These shores, too, with their undulating 
hills, green forests and lordly villas ! it's a scene worthy the 
pencil of a Ruysdael. Yonder massive forts appear, with 
their engines of destruction so grimly crouched in their 
embrasures, the guardians of this peaceful scene. By the 
blood of old Eclipse !t (a health to the veteran) By the 
fair form of the goddess sprung from the light foam of yon- 
der sea ! (a glass to the fair Cytheria) I admire your taste. 
This snug little Dutch cottage of yours, my dear boy, with 
its flowering walks, and roses, and honey-suckles, is perfect- 

* The soubriquet by which the Editor of the " Spirit of the 
Times" was known to his correspondents. 
t A celebrated race-horse. 



200 SPIRITIANA 

ly delightful, and but that you are a bachelor, I should set 
3'ou down as a happy man. 

Hendrick. — Married or unmarried, bachelor or Bene- 
dict, right happy am I, my dear " Spirit," to welcome you 
within its walls. 

" Now is the winter of {my) discontent, made glorious by summer 
By this (tall) " Son of York," 
And all the clouds that lowered about our house 
(Need not go far to find themselves) 
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried." 

But Egad ! my dear boy, what a pair of beauties you 
have got in 3' our traces. What blood ! what muscle! what 
necks! what shoulders! Their nostrils are fire, and their 
eyes shame the gazelle — 

" With champing bits, and arching necks, 
And eyes like listening deer, 
And spirits of fire, that pine at rest, 
And limbs that mock at fear." 

Old Scip', who was born in a stable, and expects to be 
buried under a manger, who looks upon himself as first 
cousin to horse-flesh, stands with arms a-kimbo and eyes 
wide open, in speechless astonishment in the carriage-house, 
where he has taken them under cover. 

Spirit. — They are horses — " Taking them for all in all, 
we ne'er shall see their like again." Five years old, blood 
as pure as the Bourbons, match to the curl of a fetlock, do 
their " tivo-tJiirty " without laying a hair, and so delicate on 
the ribbons, that the little finger of a girl of fifteen can turn 
them in a circle. The ^^ Avenues "* glory in the light tap of 
their hoofs, and " Catds "" and "■ BurnJiavi s''"^ are vociferous 

* Stopping places on the avenues. 



SPIRITIAXA 20 1 

in their praise. But, by the mare of Mahomet, Hendrick, 
this road of yours is infernally heavy. I've had a halo of 
dust three feet in diameter around my wheels all the way 
down from the ferry. Your sandy desert may be very well for 
your " Araby's Daughter," but it's the devil and all on horse- 
flesh with four wheels behind it. But, Hendrick, though 
this cottage of yours is unexceptionable, and the scenery 
beautiful, your wine exquisite in its bouquet, and your " Re- 
galias" in their flavor, and everything so comfortable, even 
to the old Newfoundlander there, dreaming of whole lagoons 
of wild-fowl and avalanches of mutton bones, don't you find, 
my dear fellow, that you want excitement — don't you feel 
a little Robinson Crusoeish now and then ? 

Hendrick. — Not a whit, not a whit. I have, you know, 
sufificient business for employment, plenty of books, salubri- 
ous air — as you say, beautiful scenery, my nags, my rod, my 
gun, my dogs (Soho ! you villains, come up and show your- 
selves ; there's a pair of game ones for you), a crack at the 
deer and wild-fowl in the fall, an occasional scamper about 
the country when the humor seizes me, and, thank heaven, 
a tolerably contented mind. I envy no man his greatness, 
and wish well to- all of Adam's race, both small and great. 
I look above, and around, and about me, and in everything, 
the sea, the air, the earth, behold indicated the finger of 
benevolence and goodness. I find study and employment 
in every object of Nature, from the small and delicate flower 
opening its petals at my feet, the minute insect hurrying 
through its brief and ephemeral existence (type of our own) 
to Old Ocean, rolling his "ceaseless dashings" to my cot- 
tage door, and the great glorious constellations sweeping 
onwards in silent sublimitv above its lowlv roof. 



202 SPIRITIANA 

Spirit. — All very true, Hendrick, by my faith ! All very 
true ; very fine philosophy, and still finer poetry ; but I know 
you of old, my boy. A pretty woman in your path sends 
all this philosophy to the devil; you're destined yet to have 
that old bachelor's coat of yours pulled over your ears. Sings : 

" The village maid steals through the shade, 
Her shepherd's suit to hear, 
To beauty shy, by lattice high, 
Sings high born Cavalier. 

The star of Love, all stars above, 

Now reigns o'er earth and sky, 
And high and low the influence know, 

But wherex?, County Guy." 

Hendrick. — Out upon thee, profane wretch ! Being 
bachelor incorrigible, schoolst thou me? Out upon thee! 
But be that as it may, do I not see that empty crystal on its 
delicate stem casting reproachful glances on thee? Fill it! 
fill it to the brim with golden sherry, and touch it to thy 
lips in token of reconciliation. What a man now wert thou 
with a bottle of that under thy waistcoat, and thy nags be- 
fore thee on a two mile stretch of clear road ! The clatter 
of their hoofs were like the roll of a drum. There were 
nothing then could overtake thee, save the great " Hydrar- 
chos." 

Spirit — The great what? 

Hendrick — The great Hydrarchos.^ 

Spirit — What i' the name of the bottomless pit is that? 

Hendrick — Why, the great serpent exhumed in Missou- 
ri ! Mouth six feet wide, with teeth to match ; ribs twelve 
feet in diameter, and length from hissnakeship's snout to the 
end of his diabolic tail about one hundred and fifty feet — the 

■^Subsequently found to be a deception. 



SPIRITIAXA 



203 

representative of the incarnate fiend that lay " chained to 
the burning lake," he snap't you up a pair of elephants as a 
cat does a mouse — cousin germain to him that 

" Swallowed a church and a steeple 
And all the good people." 

Spirit — Egad! what a favorite he would be in "Old 
Virginy," that home of snakedom, of whom it is written: 
" If truth is not, then there's no snakes in Virginy." 

{DinaJis voice is heard singing in the kitchen.) 

" Snake baked a hoe cake, 
Asked de frog to mind it, 
De frog he fell asleep, 
And de lizard came and stol'd it. 
Chorus — Ruberree — ceder bree — heigho Juba! 

De snake began to beat de lizard. 
De lizard he denied it, 
And de frog said ye did, for 
I seed ye when ye stol'd it. 
Chorus — Ruberree — ceder bree — heigho Juba! 

Alligator in de swamp, catching de old gander." 

Hendrick — Ha! ha! Truly you have woke up "Old 
Vairginy " herself; but, joking aside, it is a great curi- 
osity, and well worth seeing, whether it be Behemoth, Levi- 
athan, Kraken, Sea Serpent, or that enormous snake repre- 
sented by Placide " who never saw the end of his tail;" it is 
the remains of a stupendous animal. Apropos of snakes, in 
one of your late " Spirits " I saw a communication relative 
to the fascinating power of serpents in which the writer 
urges that the influence lies not in " the bright and glittering 
eye," but in the poisonous and noxious effluvia emitted by 
the reptile. I agree with him, the more particularly that it 
calls to mind a case that came under my observation in 



204 SPIRITIANA 

South Carolina a number of years since. A gentleman was 
traveling through a forest on a warm summer morning, 
when his attention was excited by the faint cry of a cat-bird 
that was hopping about in a sort of maze in the path a few 
yards in advance of him. It uttered a ceaseless, weak, but 
evidently distressed cry, and appeared to be attracted by 
some object a little in advance of it. He halted his horse 
and gazed around him to ascertain the cause, and after look- 
ing attentively a minute or two perceived a large black- 
snake coiled up a short distance from the bird, its head ele- 
vated a few inches, but perfectly motionless, and its bright 
and piercing eye fixed with deadly malignity on its victim, 
while its tongue, like a little flame, silently played in and 
out of its mouth. Both animals were too much engaged to 
notice him, and he remained a few minutes an interested 
spectator of the scene, the bird becoming evidently more 
weak and helpless, when he began to perceive an unpleasant 
odor, which was soon followed by nausea and slight faint- 
ness. Divining or imagining the cause, he dismounted, and 
breaking a stout switch approached, and with two or three 
well-directed blows dispatched the serpent, perceiving as he 
did so the peculiar effluvia more strongly. The bird stood 
in a sort of stupor for a few seconds after he had killed its 
foe, but gathering strength it lifted itself upon its wings and 
fiew weakly and slowly to a neighboring thicket, where it 
was soon lost to his view. He felt convinced, upon revolv- 
ing the theory in his mind, that the popular idea with regard 
to the fascination was incorrect, and that the poisonous 
effluvia emitted by the snake was the cause of the stupefac- 
tion of its victim. 

Spirit — Now you speak of it, I think that I have myself 



SPIRITIAXA 



205 



occasionally perceived about snakes an unpleasant odor such 
as you describe. By-the-bye, your stor}- reminds me of 
Monk Lewis's "Anaconda," the story of an Englishman that 
was besieged in his summer-house in Ceylon by an enormous 
boa, and the effect upon his senses of the deadly effluvia 
emitted by the monster. You recollect it? 

Hendrick — Perfectly well. I read it in my boyhood, 
and a most thrilling tale it was. The Englishman letting 
slip his dog with a note describing his situation tied around 
his neck, and the monster's snapping him up like lightning 
before he had got ten feet from the door — of the discovery 
by the people on the plantation of his situation, and 
their driving a herd of cattle toward the serpent to 
divert him from his prey — of his springing upon the head- 
most bullock, lashing him to a tree, breaking every bone in 
his body in his coils, lubricating and then swallowing him ; 
his consequent helplessness — their dispatching him with 
clubs and axes, and the release of the poor Englishman, who 
subsequently died of his terror and the effects of the efflu- 
via. I recollect it well. 

Spirit — It was well told. Speaking of Lewis, I came 
across, the other day, for the first time, the novel from which 
he received his sobriquet, " the Monk." It is a most excit- 
ing story and written with great power. But he presents 
vice, notwithstanding the attendant horrors, in such capti- 
vating colors that I am not sure but that the devil who 
finally flew away with the monk from the dungeons of Mad- 
rid had also a fair right to fly away with the author, 

Hendrick — Yes, he was of the Byronic-diabolic school. 
But to return to the snakes ; I knew a case where a child 
was apparently under the influence of fascination, whatever 



206 SPIRIT! A A- A 

might be the cause. It was in a farm-3'ard in a village in an 
adjoining State. The child, about four years old, was ob- 
served standing perfectly still, gazing intently upon a stone 
fence a short distance in front of it. It was called repeated- 
ly by its nurse, but pa3ang no attention she went to bring it 
in. As she approached she noticed that the child was trem- 
bling from head to foot, its finger pointing to the wall in 
front. As she took its hand her eye followed the direction 
of its finger, and she saw a " copper-head " glide off the 
stones down into the wall. This snake, which was after- 
wards killed, called in that part of the countr}^ the " rattle- 
snake's cousin," is exceedingl}^ venomous and more danger- 
ous than the rattlesnake, inasmuch as, devoid of rattles, it 
gives no w^arning. The child, when recovered from its 
agitation, said that she saw beautiful ribbons and colors play- 
ing before her on the wall. 

Spirit — I should think that that could hardly come un- 
der the name of fascination, as the natural colors of the 
snake would have been sufficient of themselves to attract the 
child's attention ; but its terror would seem to sustain the 
idea that there is an intuitive dread in the human family to 
the serpent tribe. 

Hendrick — It is the common opinion -vvith regard to 
black-snakes that they will not attack a human being unless 
previously assaulted, although there are said to be instances 
where they have attacked children. But in the same part 
of the country in which the incident that I have just related 
of the child occurred there was an instance to the contrary. 
A farmer by the name of Birdsey was in the woods felling 
timber. Being seized with a hemorrhage from the nose he 
laid down his ax, and seating himself upon a rock on the 



SPIRITIAKA 207 

edge of a small brook near by, leaned his head upon his 
hand, his elbow resting on his knees, letting in that position 
the blood drop into the water. Whilst thus seated he felt a 
blow across his back which he thought was from the de- 
cayed branch of some overhanging tree falling upon him, 
bnt in an instant he was undeceived by finding his elbow 
tied to his knee and both arms bound tight to his body by 
the coils of a huge black-snake, whose hissing head, with its 
glistening e^^es and forked tongue, was darting threatening- 
ly within a couple of inches of his face. After the paralysis 
of a moment's fear he succeeded in introducing the fingers 
of his right hand into his jacket pocket, got out his knife, 
opened it with his teeth, and succeeded in relieving himself 
from its horrid embrace onl}^ by cutting the serpent into 
half a dozen pieces. 

Spirit — There is an astonishing tenacity of life in snakes, 
as you ma}^ have observed when j^ou have cut them in two 
with a spade or ax. The species called "racers " — black- 
snakes with a white ring around their necks — are said some- 
times to attack people. I recollect that I was once out in 
the open fields, in the vicinity of a forest, when one started 
close at m}" feet. I immediatel}^ leveled my piece, when he 
turned, and Avith head erect made dead for me. I let him 
have both barrels, one after the other, and then, laying down 
my gun, battered him with stones till, as I supposed, life was 
extinct; but conjecture my surprise when, passing the same 
place an hour or two after, I found that he had disappeared. 

Hendrick— If it had remained you would have found it 
swarming with insects and vermin devouring it. How in- 
teresting it is to observe the same overruling hand alwaA-s at 
work in carrying out its laws, whether great or small! The 



2o8 SPIRITIANA 

instant the dissolution of animal life takes place, whether in 
the mastodon or man, the reptile or the minute insect, these 
Nature's scavengers rush in from a thousand quarters to 
their appointed task. Without them the world were soon 
one noisome charnel-house. 

Spirit — Ay ! a great arena, where the conflict between 
" life and its arch-enemy, death," is incessant. However 
brave the resistance, the grim monster invariably conquers, 
and the corpse, hurried off the stage, makes way for other 
struggles, other conflicts and other actors on the scene. 
But what a wondrous mystery lies concealed under its op- 
posite, Life (if, indeed, there is anything not enveloped in 
mystery). The Greek word for life is Bios, and Bin means 
violence. Bichat defines organic life as " the sum of the fine- 
tions that resist deatJi ; " in other words, the final result of 
that circle of natural causes which, surrounding it from its 
inception, eventually ends in its inevitable extinction. It 
reminds one of the Italian state prisoner who finds to his 
horror, as time progresses, that the iron chamber in which 
he is confined is jointed, and that slowly, silently and surely 
it is contracting to crush him out of existence. But this 
organic life, though doomed, does not appear to surrender, 
even after the spirit has withdrawn from it, without a strug- 
gle ; for soon after the apparent death there supervenes a re- 
sistance called the rigor mortis — a general stiffening of the 
whole body to such an extent that it can be lifted by the 
shoulders and stood upright like a statue. This rigor lasts 
for several hours, sometimes a couple of days, when finally, 
the laws of chemistry obtaining the ascendant, the organic 
particles gradually soften, lose cohesion, disintegrate, and, 
dissolving, change into four or five gallons of water and four 



SFIRITIAA\4 209 

or five handfuls of lime, which sink into the earth from 
whence they came, the gases ascending into the atmosphere. 
Thus resolved, they again commence the eternal circle of re- 
creation, according to the fiat which has been appointed for 
them, whether into prince or peasant, mountain or valley, 
mastodon or insect, forest tree or delicate flower, without 
destruction or change of their original elements. There can 
be no stronger logical argument for the iinniortality of the 
soul than this non-destructibility of matter ; for, so far as 
human reason can judge, it cannot be possible (probable, if you 
please) that base matter, made use of by the Spirit as its ser- 
vant and slave, can survive its more noble and ethereal lord. 
Hendrick — The same wood where Birdsey was at- 
tacked was a perfect paradise for the poet or the sports- 
man. The giant patriarchs of the forest, their trunks beard- 
ed with the moss of centuries, towering high and grandly 
into the blue heavens, their broad branches spreading out 
their green leaves joyously to the blue ether and genial 
shower, while the summer breezes, sweeping among them, 
sent forth solemn hymns of harmony to Him who had raised 
them from the minute seed. The squirrel and the rabbit 
gamboled undisturbed on the fine greensward spread out at 
their feet, which was clear from undergrowth and smooth as 
a park, save where here and there a swampy bottom, loaded 
with vines and glistening with wild fiowers, gave variety to 
the scene and cover to the game. Through it coursed a 
lovely little rivulet, which swept smoothly along around the 
roots of the alders and old trees, attended by the dragon-fly 
and many-colored birds and insects in its course, though 
now and then bubbling and disputing for the mastery with 
some envious rock or pertinacious log, in whose eddies the 



2IO SPIRITIANA 

trout were quietly sleeping or playing among the bubbles. 
You could hardly advance a dozen yards, in the season, 
without having the blood started to your cheek by the sud- 
den lu-h-ir of the partridge or the quiet spring of the wood- 
cock getting up at your feet. 

Spirit — Ah-ha ! Hendrick, ah-ha ! are you there ? are 
you there, my boy ? " Take heed, dogs," take heed ! Care, 
Sancho ! — Dash, take heed ! See ! — tails and noses straight 
as a line — stiff as a ramrod. W/ih' — whir — bang — bang — 
one, two, th-r-e-e ; bring 'em in, boys — bring 'em in. Load 
and on, ah-ha! Spirit of Nimrod ! how delicious at the 
evening supper those delicate white breasts, scored with the 
gridiron, sprinkled knowingly with pepper and salt, fianked 
with the white bread and golden butter, the honest mealy 
potatoes bursting from their russet jackets, and the dark 
brown Mocha swimming with cream, sending forth its rich 
aroma. 

Hendrick. — Ay, ay — but the trout, too, the trout, my 
Spirit. Quick ! look into this deep pool here, just out of the 
eddy. Whist! here, here, in the shade of this oak. Peer 
down into the deep, dark hollow at its feet, around its 
gnarled and fantastic roots ; do you see him ? do you see ? 
How beautifully the gold and purple colors glitter ! how 
motionlessl}^ still is the head, the slight movement of the fin. 
the wary motion of the tail — a three-pounder, by the God- 
dess Diana! Hist, hist! throw your fly lightly over him ; 
let it fall quietly on the surface ; ay ! now he rushes from 
his reverie, the head slowly turns, now the fins move more 
decidedly; now, now — one rapid whirl of the tail, and, ha-ha ! 
— he rests on the earthen platter at the other end of the 
table. Allow me to help you, my dear fellow, to — egad ! 



I 



SPIRITIANA 2 I I 

we are at a regular Barmecide's feast ; this will never do — 
a glass of " Chateau " with you in reality, my boy. 

SviRiT {smacks his lips) — There's no Barmecide in this, 
though, Hendrick. 

Hendrick — True for you, my Spirit. But " those same 
men in Buckram " — I have got more to say about those 
same snakes. When the western States began to be settled, 
the New Englanders, as usual, were foremost among the 
pioneers. There was a man in the same village that we 
have been speaking of, who pulled up stakes in the autumn, 
shouldered his ax and rifle, and, with his wife and babv, 
trudged off to Ohio. He settled upon the " grant," and, 
building a shanty, proceeded incontinently to level the 
forest around him. Now, in his economy of labor, he had 
erected his cottage against the side of a large rock, where, 
by leaving a hole in his roof, he saved the trouble of build- 
ing a chimnc}' ; but, unconsciously and unfortunately for 
him, a certain colony of sage rattlesnakes had their den 
under, and held the same rock, by right of prior occupancy. 
As the weather was cool, they remained very quiet in their 
den, the fire of the woodman, for his cooking, being built upon 
the stones outside of the cottage door ; but as it became 
cold, one night, in the absence of her husband, the wife 
built a fire against the side of the rock, and retired to bed 
with her child. Something aroused her from sleep, when, 
rising to look around, she saw the whole floor of the hut 
covered with the reptiles, awakened from their dormancy by 
the heat of the fire, writhing and hissing and crawling about 
with frightful vivacity ; and what was worse, between her 
and the door, and some already crawling up upon the bed. 
Fortunatel}^, there was a small attic cockloft above her, into 



2 I 2 SPIRITIANA 

which, by the aid of a ladder leading to it, she was able to 
crawl, where, with her child in her arms, she watched the 
scene below in comparative safety. But here a new cause 
of alarm seized her : should her husband return, as she ex- 
pected, he would enter the cabin, and, before he was aware 
of the new denizens, be stung to death. She succeeded, 
however, in making a hole through the logs of the roof, and, 
patiently waiting his return, was able to give him, from the 
prison, a timely caution as to the state of affairs in the home 
department. The honest woodman ascended the roof of the 
shanty, and soon, with his axe, relieved his wife from her 
confinement, and then, setting fire to the hut, destroyed 
its meager contents and the snakes together. 

Spirit — Well, for my part, I would as lief take the 
devil by the tail as a snake, but I have seen those South- 
ern boys catch them as they ran, as they would a whip- 
lash, and snap off their heads. 

Hendrick — So would I. I abhor the very sight of a snake, 
and had 1 any doubts as to my legitimate descent from 
Mother Eve, they would be dissipated by my innate an- 
tipathy to the reptile race.* But speaking of catching 

snakes reminds me of a good story that my friend D 

tells of himself. He was at the time, in his vocation as en- 
gineer, employed in the construction of the South Carolina 
Railroad. One day, in Charleston, a naturalist, showing 
him his collection, among other specimens of the serpent 

* Nevertheless, it is a fact equally humiliating and true, that the 
idolatrous worship of this loathsome reptile has always ob- 
tained in enormous proportions in the human family. His temples 
were cylindrical, and were called OB-EL-IS-KA, or The Temple of 
the Serpent God, hence our word obelisk. 



SPIRITIANA 2 I 3 

tribe, pointed to one of a very venomous character, 
which he said he was anxious to obtain alive, as he 
wished to make a drawing of it before the colors faded 
(as they do immediately after the life is extinct), at the 

same time begging D , should he fall in with it in the 

woods, to capture and bring it in to him unhurt. D— — very 
naturally suggested that a serpent of that character was 
more to be admired than handled. But the doctor, him- 
self an enthusiast in his profession, assured him that 
nothing was more easy than to secure him. He had 
simply to cut a forked stick, and. placing its crotch over the 
snake's head, take him by the neck just behind, in which 

position he would be perfectly harmless. D , a few days 

after, in the woods, came across the snake in question, and 
proceeded straightway to follow the doctor's directions ; 
cut the forked stick, and, approaching the sleeping reptile, 
placed the crotch over his head, and then, putting down his 
thumb and finger, secured him, seciindiun arteni, as the doctor 
had suggested. Letting go the stick, the snake was in an 
instant coiled around his arm, so tight as to be absolutely 
painful", but at the same time, it must be acknowledged, ef- 
fectually prevented from biting. A moment's reflection 
was sufficient to show D that he was in a very respecta- 
ble fix — that he had got to hold on to his snakeship till 
death did them part, or run the chance of making his exit 
from this sublunary sphere with the only consolation 

" As up to Heaven he went 

Of crying — ' cruc/, crU(f/, crwfl ■s.zxpe.nt .'' " 

So he turned about, commenced trotting as fast as he could 
(for he was on foot) three miles back to Charleston, to de- 
liver to his friend, the Doctor, his much-desired specimen. 



2 14 SPIRITIANA 

The upshot of the business was, that by the time he had got to 
town, what with eagerness to secure the prize and trepida- 
tion lest he should be stung, the miniature representative of 
Satan was choked to death, and my friend pretty effectually 
cured of any more snake captures. 

[SciPiO and Dinah seen looking around the corner of the 
piazza, gazing intently at " THE SPIRIT."] 

Spirit — 

"Hah! 
By the pricking of my thumbs, 
Something wicked this way comes." 

SciPio to Dinah — I say, Dinah ! dat's him as Massa 
Hendrick calls " de Spirit." Golly! Dinah, he no more like 
de spirits in old times, than nothing at all. Whar he big 
horns? Whar he claws? Whar he long tail? and zvhar he 
great flaming eyes ? And see, Dinah, he smoke 'bacca 'stead 
o' brimstone! 

Spirit (suddenly turning, deseries the negroes ; throzvs him- 
self into an attitude^ — 

''Angels and ministers of grace defend va, 
Be ye spirits of health, or goblins damned, — 
Bring ye airs from Heaven, or blast from Hell, — 
IVhy come ye in such questionable shape ? 
Say, why is this ? IV here fore ? What should we do ? 

SciPio — Golly ! Massa ? 
Spirit — 

" Avaunt and quit my sight — 

There is no speculation in those 

Eyes of thine. Thy bones are marrowless. 
Avaunt, I say." 

SciPio — Hi! Dinah. {Exit precipitately Scipio and DinaJi). 
Spirit {laughing) — Ha — ha — ha ! 

"So, being gone," 
" Richard is himself again." 



SPIRITIAXA 215 

Hendrick — Ho, ho, ho ! Egad, you have frightened half 
a dozen years out of the blacks. 

Spirit — Well, Hendrick, there's an end to all things, 
white and black. One more glass, my boy, and I must be off. 

Hendrick — Never think of it, my dear fellow; you don't 
stir. We must make a night of it. There's a capital bed 
and an indifferent good supper for you within. 

Spirit — I cannot, Sachem, I cannot. I must be at the 
Opera to-night, " come what, come may," and 1 have just 
one hour to do ten miles and dress before the curtain rises. 

Hendrick — Well, if you must, you must. " Welcome 
the coming, speed the parting guest." But one more toast 
before you go. No heel taps; hll with old " Farquar," to the 
brim, boy, to the brim ! Here's to the " Bayonets and Board- 
ing pikes'' — the gallant boys of the Army and Navy — health 
and success to them ! 

Spirit — With all my soul, not forgetting the Dragoons, 
" with their long swords, saddles, bridles," {tossing off Jds ivinc). 
Holloa! Scip' ! you image of Satan, bring round those 
horses. Ay ! you are there, you black villain, are you ? Ah, 
ha ! my beauties. {Ascends the box, takes the ribbons, gives a 
flourish with his whip, the extreme length of tJie lasJiconmig round 
witJi peculiar grace upon the rear of Scipio, who jumps up, clapping 
his hand to the aggrieved part, but catches with a broad grin zvith 
the other, the half dollar tossed in the air.) Good bye, Hen- 
drick, I'm off. Hey! babies! {the horses spring forzuard.) 

Hendrick — There he goes, off like a whirlwind. Good 
bye, old fellow ! How the sandflies! One hundred to one 
he shows his back to everything on the road. Ay, ay! he's 
a right good fellow ; no cant and no humbug. 

[Exit Hejidrick.~] 



SPIRITIANA.— NO. 11. 



WINTER. 




By my faith! 'tis a good world, and a brave world, and a jolly world; and they 
be knaves at.d varlets that say it be not. — Master Peter. 



HENDRICK'S Cottage at the Narrozus, Long Island. 
Ground covered zvith snozv; a handsome light bine sleigh, 
xvith volnniinous ivolf and buffalo robes filling the interi- 
or and falling out over the sides and runners, aud four beautiful 
bloods in the traces; bays with coal-blaek leaders, covered with 
foam, at the door. Seated ivithin it, muffled in furs, the one hold- 
ing the ribbons tall and slender, and the other with the never fail- 
ing cigar in his mouth, broad-shouldered and manly, the " Tall 



SPIRITIAXA—II 217 

Son" and "Tom Jones" bound and accoiitercd for a sleigh 
ride; the former, rising on his feet, hails the house.) 

Tall Son — Hilla — ho! — house — ho — house! Wake up, 
Hendrick ! HiUa — ho ! Scip ! you black old rascal, crawl 
out here — crawl out ! 

{The door suddoily opens; a black face projects itself for an 
instant and as suddenly withdrazvs, the door closing after it, and 
Scipio runs hastily to Hendrick' s sttidy zvith — ) 

SciPio — "Golly! Massa. Here's Massa "Spirit" and 
another gemman at the door in dere sleigh, der noses as red 
as roses and de horses all in a lather ! 

Hendrick — The deuce they are! {Jumps up, kicks over 
the stool on zvJiich his legs are resting, throivs his book upon the 
table and incontinently places himself at the door.) Ah ! ha ! 
" Spirit " — Tom ! boys, I am right glad to see you. Come — 
get out and warm yourselves. Let Scipio take the horses 
round to the stable out of the cold. Come in, boys ; come 
in! 

Spirit — Can't, Hendrick; can't, 'pon my honor. We are 

bound on a tour of observation. Going to wake up K 

at the Fort down here, and then round by New Utrecht and 
Bath and Flatbush home. You see old Sol yonder is throw- 
ing sidelong glances at us even now ; he is so impatient at 
this season of the year to get on his night-cap. For a gentle- 
man that has so much to do he gets up confoundedly late 
and goes to bed unreasonably early. 

Hendrick — Come in, a few minutes at least, and let your 
horses have a chance to breathe. 

Spirit — Well, we'll spare a few moments ; come, Tom. 

Hendrick — That's right. Scipio, throw blankets over 
the horses. Come, come in here, into my study — warm and 



2 I 8 SPIRITIANA—II 

snug. Throw off your caps and overcoats. There you are 
— a pair of beautiful Caryatides to my fire-place. " May your 
shadows never be less." Tom, my dear boy, I'm right glad 
to see you ! 

Tom — Glad to see yon. {Puff—p7iff—ptiff.) 

Spirit — Entrc-nous, Tom is somewhat silent. He took a 
pretty stiff tankard of hot whisky punch coming down, and 
the effect of the unusual potation in the cold weather is, I 
fear, a decided inroad on his pia mater. He has been very I 
taciturn for the last half hour. 

Hendrick — Well, isn't this a glorious scene around ? 
Old Winter in all his rigor and all his savage beauty. 

Spirit — Yes, " by the frosty Caucassus ! " Summer's \ 
gone — its leaves and its flowers, its birds and soft breezes — 
and old Dame Nature, like a true Chinese, has donned her 
robes of white mourning for her. 

Tom — Do your Chinese wear black of white color? 

Spirit — Even so, great Thomas. We, the " outside bar- 
barians," alone use the sombre in token of our grief. 

Tom — Well, well; I say nothing. I can smoke, though ; 
they can't object to that? 

Spirit — No ! by the flaming nostrils of Fashion ! no, 
Tom — that they cannot. Your Turk and your Arab, your 
American Indian and your New Hollander, your English- 
man and your Frenchman, alike enjoy the fragrant weed ; 
all smoke. " Vanity of vanities," saith the preacher ; never- 
theless, all smoke. [Spies a sealed envelope lying on the table, 
addressed to " The Spirit.") Egad! Hendrick, what's this? 
Shall I be my own post-boy and pocket it, " postage free ? " 

Hendrick — E'en as you like. It's only a sketch I was 
about sending you for a corner of " The Spirit." 



SPIRITIAXA—II 219 

Spirit — " Business before pleasure," as " Mad Anthony" 
used to say to his soldiers. " Wax ! by your leave." Tom, 
I'll read this liere; 'twill save the necessity of doing it next 
week. {Reads.) 

I pass like night from land to land, 
I have strange power of speech; 
So soon as in his face I see, 
I know the man that must hear me, 
To him my tale I teach. 

— I\ii/ic of ye Ancient Ma^-iner. 

Cottage at the Narrows. 
Start not, my dear " Spirit," at the heading of this com- 
munication. But here I am in some measure embargoed in 
mv snug little cottage. The snow is piled in drifts around 
mv windows ; the old willows are bending under their hoary 
loads; the ocean, dark and gloomy, roused by the tempest, 
is lashing himself into fearful wrath ; and the vessels, like 
frightened birds, with reefed sails, are scudding in every 
direction for a harbor. The blacks are nodding a dreary 
dialogue over the dying embers on the kitchen hearth. The 
Newfoundlander, with nose between his paws, at my feet, is 
fast asleep, unconscious alike of all ills that do afflict the 
family, canine or human. The horses, in their warm, well- 
littered stalls in the stable, are contentedly munching at their 
oats, while the little terrier, with eyes like blazing coals, is 
standing guard over a new-found rat-hole, whereupon, if his 
ratship pops his head, he will i' the instant be " dead for a 
ducat — dead." And here am I, before my cheerful fire, loll- 
ing in my great arm-chair, suddenly aroused by the notion 
that to drive away ennui I'll seize my pen and give you 



A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE. 

Lep. — " You have strange serpents there? 

Ant. — ' ' Ay, Lepidus. 

Lep. — Your serpent of Egypt is bred now 
Of your mud, by the operation of your 
Sun ! So is your crocodile." — Ant. andCleo. 

WHOA, my beauties!— soh, boys, sob ! Them there's 
what we call mountains^ in old Virginy," exclaimed 
the good-natured stage-driver, as he pulled up his 
leaders on the summit of a pass on the road. 

It was in the decline of a summer's afternoon in the 
month of June, that we thus halted for a moment on the 
top of one of the high hills, in the vicinity of the WJiite 
Sulphur Springs, of Virginia, to catch a glimpse of the AUe- 
ghanies, as they rolled away like waves of verdure in the 
distance, their huge masses melting in the horizon like 
dark clouds, while the atmosphere above and around 
them hung still and breathless, and pure as the sapphire. We 
gazed upon the scene, and with reluctance tore ourselves 
from the view, as the snorting leaders, " touched up," 
sprang forward again on their journey. A few miles fur- 
ther, suddenly turning an abrupt precipice in a valley of 
great elevation, between the mountains, but still below 
us, burst on our view the little fairy, '' White 
Sulphur' — the Saratoga of the ^ South and the West, 
the place of our destination. On four sides of 
a hollow square, of perhaps the eighth of a mile 
in length, the rows of cottages (or cabins, as they 



A PEEP VER THE BL UE RIDGE 2 2 I 

are called) were glistening cheerfully in the evening sun, 
in bright relief against the dark background of forest, 
which in their rear immediately overhung them. Con- 
nected b}" long piazzas, they looked out upon the square, 
which was laid out in a verdant lawn, divested of trees, 
save here and there some of the old patriarchs of the 
forest, huge oaks and chestnuts, left for shade or orna- 
ment, and under whose shade were lounging groups of 
visitors. At the extreme end, under its canopy, rested 
the Spring, the health-restoring waters that furnish us its 
great attraction (an idea of the taste and smell of which 
any of your sporting readers may have, by washing his 
gun-barrels and smelling the contents), while in the center 
was the great dining-hall and ball-room. The line of cot- 
tages were so arranged that at intervals a higher edifice 
with columns added to the architectural effect. The rows 
connected by piazzas were designated by various names. 
There was ''Alabama Rcnv,'' where might be seen the bach- 
elors and men without encumbrance, indulging themselves, 
indolently reclining with their cigars or their books, while 
beyond was ''Paradise Row,'' specially designated for the 
ladies, with or without, as might be, their lords paramount, 
husbands, or brothers. Louisiana Row, NeiuYork, Pennsylva- 
nia, and Georgia, with other States, were duly represented, 
while far off in one corner was "Wolf Roiv,'' a sort of Alsa- 
tia, where the " roaring boys," the "babes of grace," and the 
" sporting men " (as the gamblers are called at the South) 
were quartered. Some of the stories that they told of 
the " carryings on " in that part of the premises evinced a 
queer state of morals, and to the actors in the scenes might 
have been, one'would think, more exciting than agreeable ; 



22 2 A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 

as, for instance, one drunken gambler going into the cabin 
of his next-door neighbor, with whom he had quarreled in 
the night, and pinning him to the pillow with his bowie- 
knife, calling for his " boy " to bring a light that " he might 
despatch the scoundrel." However, at the time we were 
there, the desperate characters had been driven from the 
place, and, inclosed with a fence, were two of the cabins 
which were leased to a leading gambler (who ran the 
risk of the law) and whose interest it was to keep off all of 
the same vocation as himself. There, if you chose, 3'ou 
might, under proper (?) introduction, be initiated, and fur- 
nished with Faro, Roulette, or any other of the instruments 
with which the votaries of fate seek to propitiate the fickle 
goddess. The proprietors of the Springs stated, in extenu- 
ation of this seeming impropriety, that in so doing the 
unsuspicious were protected against designing knaves, and 
that if others chose to go there, it was with their e3^es open 
and at their own risk. 

Mr. Cauldwell, the owner of the Springs, a venerable gen- 
tleman, was surrounded by nine sons, fine looking men, who 
luxuriated in lives of sylvan ease, and whose vocation seemed 
to be to kill the enemy, lolling in the summer days under 
the trees, or in their white dresses and huge sombreros, cigars 
in mouth, galloping on their blood horses over the adjoin- 
ing country. In the summer, though hot and sultry at 
midday, at night and morning huge fires were required in 
the cabins, so cold and piercing was the high mountain 
temperature. Words can hardly describe the delicious sen- 
sation felt as the early morning air, loaded with the aroma 
of the forest, the pines and hemlocks, was inhaled on the 
opening of the cottage door ; the exhilaration of champagne 



A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 223 

without its intoxication ; and from early dawn till long into 
the morning the whole valley was one sea of melody. It 
appeared as if a million of aviaries were concealed under 
the mist, which alwa3's hangs on the mountains till dispelled 
by the sun ; myriads of mocking-birds and other songsters, 
warbling their notes as if in an ecstasy of delight. 

Deer and game were plenty, and in the season the 
Cauldwells made the forests ring with their cheers and 
hunt halloos, as they followed the hounds in full chase over 
the mountains. 

The horses went for hours at full gallop up and down 
precipices, which would have knocked our Northern 
horses up in five minutes, but they were accustomed to it 
— their muscles rigid as iron ; they would neither snort 
nor blow, but appeared to enjoy the excitement equally 
with their riders. The Cauldwells were all keen 
huntsmen, and had fine blood horses in their stables, and, 
what is not often found in the countr}^ a full pack of 
hounds. It consisted of about fifty dogs, and when they 
opened on the mountains (or scented " vermin " prowling 
around their kennels) and " gave cry," their music would 
make everything ring again. Man has been designated 
as a laughing animal, a talking animal, a dressing animal, 
but judging from our experience he may as well be called 
a lounging animal, for with our cigars in our mouths, we 
used to loll day after day under those huge trees, merel}- with- 
drawing fi'om the sun as it circled its daily course. Some- 
times, indeed, we would take our guns, and wander off to 
the " deer-licks," sometimes with rod to tempt the speckled 
lordling of the brook ; but we are bound to say that much 
of our time was dozed awa}' in that same lazy style. Among 



2 24 ^ PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 

SO man}^ collected from all parts of the world, as were always 
to be found there, and which were constantly changing, there 
was a sufficient variety of character to afford study and 
amusement. Among others there was one, a Frenchman, a 
naturalist, whose sole passion was the collection of reptiles ; 
a snake was a jewel ; frogs, toads, and spiders invaluable 
treasures ; and his pockets and handkerchief, indiscriminate- 
ly, the place of durance for his captives. His cabin was 
next to mine, and one night, aroused by sundry queer thumps I 
and jumps and bounds, I went to ascertain the cause, and 
there found Roussall, with tongs in hand, jumping about in 
his shirt in pursuit of his victims, who by accident had got 
loose about the floor. Occasionally snapping his tongs, he 
would make captive a toad or a frog, consigning him to his 
place, but his more frequent abortive efforts were accompa- 
nied by "■ Sacrcs'^ and "■ Diables'' sufficient to have scared 
even Uncle Toby's regiment in Flanders. But speaking of 
snakes, it is an old saying, and as / foimd, worthy of all 
credence, that if a fact isn't such, then '■'tJiere aint no snakes 
in Virginy,'" for snakes were in such abundance as I never 
had seen till then, from the old rattler, with his sixteen 
rattles, surely giving his enemy warning, down to the adder 
blind and moccasin. I recollect we one day made up a 
party to go down to a " Deer Lick," four or five miles dis- 
tant from the Springs, where, lying in wait, concealed under 
what is called a"/?/zW (a heap of logs, or pile of brush), we 
mio-ht get a shot at the deer as they came down to drink. 
They have other ways of killing them, which, though pic- 
turesque, is little better than murder for the poor deer. In 
their " night-hnnting,'' for instance, two of the hunters go out 
to the " licks " (brackish, slightly saline springs, where the 



A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 



225 



animals, allured by the salt, come down to drink). One 
carries on his head a pan or brazier, on which are one or 
two lighted pine-knots, throwing a circle of light upon 
the surrounding darkness, rendering the hunter beneath it 
invisible, while his companion, standing behind him, rests his 
rifle upon his shoulder. The deer, attracted by the light, 
approaches to gaze, and the hunter draws sight at his leisure, 
directly between the two bright eye-balls, from which in the 
darkness the blaze is reflected. Of course the poor animal 
stands no chance, and the sharp whip-like crack of the rifle, 
as it for an instant resounds through the forest, is followed 
by one or two plunges, and the victim sinks in death. On 
the day that I allude to, a party of five of us went out with 
our guns, pioneered by one of the young Cald wells (they 
use shot guns, and load with twelve to sixteen buck shot). 
It was exceedingly hot, and as we wended our way through 
the forest, with the exception of the hum of an insect, and 
the occasional rap — rap — rap of the wood-pecker, as we saw 
for a moment his scarlet head and blue back circling some 
dead tree, all was perfectly silent and still. We followed 
our guide in Indian file, wending our way through gullies, 
climbing precipices, stumbling over the huge old trunks 
mouldering in rottenness where they had fallen, but from 
whose very decay young life was springing up in conflict 
with its relentless enemy. 

Now stopping to pluck an azalia, geranium or laurel ; now 
to gaze on the beauty of some star-like tiameless flower — 
(who shall say that it was born to blush ''nnsee?i,'' while 
animal life in myriads swarms around, and while other 
senses than those of men may appreciate the goodness 
of the Creator in Nature's loveliness ?) — when, as we neared 



2 26 A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 

the place of our destination, and approached the huge trees 
that overhung the " Lick," we heard a woodsman's axe re- 
sounding through the forest, and soon saw a brawny negro 
felling timber near the very spot. Of course all chance for 
sport was gone, as the deer, alarmed by the noise, would not 
approach his favorite haunts, but dive more deeply into the 
recesses of the forest. As we passed a swampy bottom on 
our route, one of my companions, who was just behind, 
called to me to turn. He pointed to the ground, and there, 
within a foot of where I had just passed, lay an enormous 
black-snake, fast asleep in his coil. We, of course, all stopped 
and surveyed him. He was unconscious of our presence 
until a slight noise was made to wake him, when in an in- 
stant his coil was contracted, his head and neck elevated, 
his e3^es glistening and tongue playing like a forked fiame 
from his mouth, turning now this, now that way, with the 
quickness of electricity, on every part of the group, ready 
to spring on the first aggressor. He did not attempt to fiy, 
but in defiance abode the battle. I leveled my gun, and in 
another instant should have sent him to the realms of his I 
great ancestor, the devil, when my arm was arrested by one 
of the Cauldwells, who begged me not to fire. " He will 
kill," said he, " a dozen rattlesnakes before the summer is 
over, and therefore the hunters never destroy them." There 
is an abiding enmity existing between the black and rattle- i 
snakes, and in their conflicts death is the doom of one 
of them. Sometimes they will be for hours, watching 
each other's motions, as warily as two fencers, the black 
always on the offensive, the rattlesnake on the defence. The 
latter is slow and sluggish in his movements, and his power 
lies in his deadly venom, but the former is as quick as light. 



A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 



227 



The black-snake watches his opportunity, when by a sudden 
spring he can catch his opponent behind the neck, so that 
he cannot use his fangs, and in an instant his body is wound 
round and round his enemy, and tightened till every bone 
in his body is broken ; but woe be to the black if he misses 
his aim ; the headsman's axe is not more fatal to its victim, 
than the death that follows the fangs of his enemy as they 
are dashed up to the quick in his lithe form. In a few 
moments he is writhing helplessly before his foe, who quiet- 
ly and grimly watches him from his coil as he writhes in the 
agonies of death. On this account there is between the 
hunter and the black snake a sort of truce, and the law, that 
" the heel of man shall bruise his head," in some measure 
does not obtain in the mountains of Virginia. We stood for 
a few moments gazing at the glistening serpent, which 
looked as if with the plaided monarch he would say 

' ' Come one, come all ; this rock shall fly 
From its firm base, as soon as I;" 

showing neither fear nor intention of flight. After we left, 
we turned when at a little distance, but there was the head 
still elevated and the coil unmoved. We passed the same 
place an hour after, but he had then withdrawn, probably 
to his den in some more dark and secluded place in the 
swamp. As we returned on our way through the clearings, 
supposing that we should meet with more basking in the 
sun, I said jokingly to a little negro boy who was with us, 
and who rejoiced in the name of Commodore Perry : — 
" Com., I'll give you a sixpence if you'll kill me a rattlesnake." 
" Yes, sir," promptly replied the little imp, " yes, sir ; shall 
I I bring him to your room, sir?" This was being taken at 
my word with a vengeance, and as the idea of having a dead 



2 28 A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 

rattlesnake in my bed-chamber was a little too much for my 
nerves, I was fain to back out of my bargain. 

But there is a time for all things, which reminds me that 
it is time to end this epistle ; and so, my dear " Spirit," al- 
though you are not of the class of " black spirits and white, 
red spirits and gray," summoned to mingle the ingredients 
in the charmed caldron ; nor of those called by Owen 
Glendower "from the vasty deep ;" nor of that class of "-aeri- 
al divils or sprites " which, according to old Burton, " are 
commanded by Beelzebub, and do so fill the air, that the air 
be not more full of flies in summer than it be of those same 
invisible divils ;" neither the " spirit " of the grape that cost 
poor Cassio his lieutenancy ; nor the spirit that humbugged 
poor old Faust ; but a right-down whole-souled " Spirit ;" a 
sort of " Diable Boiteaux," an '■'■ Asmodetis^' albeit without 
crutches. I will now whisper farewell. 

Spirit — Well, Hendrick, whatever demerit your sketch] 
may have, it can't be said that you didn't take things easy. 

Tom — {zvaking lip). — Eh! What? 

Spirit — Ha ! ha ! ha ! asleep, by Juno ! 

Tom — Faith ! I believe I must plead guilty to the charge ;j 
this cold makes me drowsy. 

Hendrick — Most likely. Come, boys, now that you are'' 
warm, let's have a glass of Burgundy or Madeira together. 

Spirit — No, no ! No wine now. It's bad to ride on in 
the cold. 

Tom — No ; that abominable punch has made my brain 
reel already worse than poor Cassio's. 

Hendrick — Well, then, Dinah's coffee-urn is singing in 
the parlor ; let's have a cup of that. I confess I am no friend 
to Bacchus in any shape (albeit, abhorring the cant of tem- 



A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 



229 



perance) ; his libations cloud the brain, and take away the 
fine tone of intellectual enjoyment. I wish in my heart that 
Satan had the whole vintage, from Adam down, stowed 
away in his infernal dominions ; thereby many a fine fellow 
might be enjoying life as Heaven intended it should be, a 
boon, instead of sinking briitalhed into an early grave. 

Tom — You are right, Hendrick; I respond with all my 
heart to your sentiments, and feel not a little annoyed that 
I have accidentally given a proof to the contrar}' . 

Spirit — Phoo ! man, accidents ivill happen in the best 
regulated families. But, my dear boy, we can't stay a 
moment longer. We have got, at the end of our ride, you 
know, to cross that confounded ferry, and the river is full of 
ice. So we must be off, and that in a hurry. So good-bye 
to you, old boy ; good-bye. 

(Tom and the " Spirit " Jump into the sleigh ; the " Spirit," 
straightning the ribbons, gives a slight circle around the ears of 
the leaders zvith his long lash, zvJio rear bolt upright on their hind 
legs, with a simultaneous snort, their bells jingling a sea of mel- 
ody, and in another moment, dashing forivard, the sleigh, its 
horses and riders, are out of sight, leaving the cottage and the 
winter s blast far, far behind them.) 

Hendrick — {Going into the house, stops, and turns) — Well, 
Scip, what are you lingering and standing there for, scratch- 
ing your head, and looking with such profound gravity into 
the snow bank? What wondrous crotchet is in possession 
of that sapient head of yours now? 

SciPio — Massa, I was tinking — but p'r'aps Massa no like 
what old nigger was t'inking about. 

Hendrick — Oh ! yes — out with it. 

Scip — Well, Massa, I was tinking wedder Massa " Spirit " 
any relation to de debil. 



230 A PEEP OVER THE BLUE RIDGE 

Hendrick — "Relation to the d 1?" What do you 

mean ? 

■ SciP — Why, my old woman — old Dinah — say as how all 
de spirits is relations, jis like brack folks. Now, if dis gem- 
men as comes here is real Spirit, den, in course, he's rela- 
tion to de old Sarpent. 

Hendrick — Ha! ha ! ha ! that is a question too deep for 
me to solve, Scipio ; but in with you, and tell Dinah to get 
m}^ supper. {Exit Hendrick^ 

Scipio — {Slowly moving aroiuid to the kitcJien door, in a re- 
flective mood.) — He drives like de debil, anyhow ; and he 
right good judge of horse-flesh, too. Golly ! dem brack 
leaders — how dey shine ! dere nostrils was like burning 
coals, wid smoke blowing out of 'em, [stopping and scratching 
his head^ dat nigh ba}^ on de pole, do', he was de beauty ; 
he's what dis child call"zactly right." What a match he 
make for our Charle)^ ; dis brack man must have de felicity 
to curry dat horse. I tell Massa Hendrick dat de Major 
gitting weak in de knees, and we mus' hab him for a match. 
Dat's it — I — 

Hendrick — {zvithin.) — Scipio — Scipio ! 

Scipio — Golly ! yes, Massa — coming, sir — coming. [Exit 
Scipio.) 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON; 

OR, B 1 1, L BAXTER THE COXSWAIN'S YARN. 

An Authentic In-cident on Board the United States Frigate President in the Year 1812. 




"THE OLD WAGON. 

IT was on a delicious afternoon in the month of July that, 
after making a tour of its circuit, 1 drew up my horse on 
the highest ridge of Staten Island to take a survey of 
the noble picture that lay on all sides extended around me. 
The sun had so far declined in his course as to throw the 
softest lights and richest shadows on the surrounding scen- 
ery ; and the rolling and undulating hills, covered with a 
carpet of verdure of the hue of emerald, glittered with the 
snow-white cottages and villas scattered upon their surfacct 
On m}^ right the ocean stretched in majesty, his broad ex- 
panse a rising hill of waters, till reaching the blue of the 
horizon it mingled into one, the gallant ships swanlike float- 
ing on his bosom. 



232 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 



The fortifications on the Long Island shore slumbered in 
grim repose, the flags hanging supinely from their staffs 
above the ramparts, and the green fields and harvest-ripened 
farms smiled in beauty as they stretched onward to the ciiy of 
Brooklyn, whose mansions, resting on her terraced Heights, 
were throwing back from all their casements the rays of the 
declining sun in quivering sheets of gold. New York, ris- 
ing from its bed of waters, appeared a fairy city springing 
from the deep ; while the lordly Hudson, escorted by the 
Palisades, coursed gallantly on his northern journey. On 
the left the plains of New Jersey rested in sleepy stillness, 
guarded by their undulating mountains ; while on the west 
one great sea of forest verdure extended to the horizon ; the 
Raritan, like a band of silver, glittering in its breaks and in- 
tervals as it wended its circuitous and serpentlike course. 

Taking the panorama for all in all, it was the most cap- 
tivating and beautiful creation that He who is the fountain 
of all goodness and benevolence has permitted me to gaze 
upon. At my feet the cheerful snow-white buildings of the 
Quarantine were throwing long shadows across their verd- 
ant lawns (a paradise to the poor sick mariner released from 
the darkness and confinement of his weary lair in the dank 
and dirty forecastle) ; and anchored on the water were ves- 
sels of all flags and burthens, from the light Bermudean 
shallop, with its oranges and pines, to the proud and richly 
laden Indiaman ; but high above all, and moored at aristo- 
cratic distance from the rest, towered a dark and lofty ship, 
that perfection of naval architecture, a frigate of the largest 
class, whose stars and stripes, languidly floating at the gaff, 
proclaimed her nation. 

I sat for some time absorbed in delight, the silence un- 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 233 

broken save by the occasional snort and pawing of my steed, 
who 1 doubt not likewise enjoyed the scene, till the great 
orb of molten gold in the western horizon, o'erhung and 
draped with a gorgeous canopy of clouds, slowly descend- 
ing, warned me that Night's sable ministers were near, and 
that I must cease to linger. Putting spurs to my horse (a 
figurative expression, for my bonny bay requii^ed no such 
argument), I was soon at the landing. Dismounting, 1 threw 
the reins across the saddle and prepared with all due phil- 
osophy, as the steamer had just left, to wait her return to 
take me again to the city. I had the prospect of waiting 
for some time ; so, lighting my cigar — thanks to Pandora 
that she left us that blessing! — I slowly sauntered down the 
pier and, leaning against a spile, puffed away in silent con- 
templation. 

In the far distance the revolving beacons at Sandy Hook 
at measured intervals threw forth their warning fires like 
angel-guides to the home-bound mariner, and the " Yo ! 
heave-o ! " from the shipping, rendered soft and flute-like by 
the distance, floated gently and sweetly on the summer 
atmosphere. 

While I thus stood absorbed, a slight jar against the pier 
aroused me, and looking over I saw a man-of-war's barge 
lying alongside, the sailors, some asleep upon the thwarts 
and others lolling in various attitudes, as dictated by con- 
venience or caprice ; while just beyond, partly concealed by 
a pile of wood, were two of her crew, seated on the pier, 
whom I had not before observed. Although the twilight 
was rapidly thickening I could see that one was old and 
weather-beaten, his locks grizzled by the hand of Time and 
his countenance channeled and scarred into the stern ex- 



234 ^^^^ DEAD MAN'S SERMON 

pression which long conflict with storm and tempest always 
leaves behind ; while the other, with large whiskers encir- 
cling a handsome, dare-devil face, was much his junior. 
The}^ were both dressed in man-of-war rig — white trousers 
and blue jackets, the collars, worked with a foul anchor, 
turned over their shoulders, exposing their bronzed chests 
and throats, while around the broad ribbon on their jaunty 
sennet hats was inscribed the name of their frigate, " The 
United States." Seeing the name, I involuntarily exclaimed 
aloud : " There, then, is the * Old Wagon ! ' " the sobriquet 
by which the ship is known in the navy. On hearing my 
voice the men turned for a moment, but perceiving that I 
did not address them they again turned and paid no further 
attention to me. 

After some moments the younger of the two broke the 
silence by saying : 

" What water does they carry out over the bar of this 
here port, Baxter ? " 

Ruminating on his quid with true nautical deliberation, 
the elder, after a pause, slowly replied : " B}^ the old channel 
half less four ; at slack water four fathom ; by this here new 
channel as Lieutenant Gedney has found five fathom at full 
tide and four fathom at low water ; at the neap maybe half 
less six," 

A pause ensued, when the younger again spoke : " I've 
hear'n say that they can take a line-of-battle ship, guns, water 
and all, out by this here new channel at any time o' tide." 

" So they say," said the old man ; " and it would have 
been well if one of the ships as has carried the stars and 
stripes in times gone by had known that ere channel. There 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 235 

is one sea-faring man not fur from here as would have been 
saved thereby from an English prison." 

'' And who is that? " asked the younger sailor. 

" It is a man as hangs his hammock on board that 'ere 
fi'igate riding at anchor yonder, and is coxswain of the first 
cutter l3nng alongside this here pier ; the man as is talking 
with 3-0U ; launched into the world by the old folks with the 
name of William Baxter on his starn." 

" Better known forward and on the gun-deck," retorted 
the othei", " b}^ the name of Grumbling Bill." 

" Ay, ay — very like," said the other. " A gray head has 
no more respect shown to it nowadays, nor half as much, as 
an unshaved boy. Tinjes isn't as the}' used to was." 

Sa3ang this, he slowly rose, and taking a short stump pipe 
from his pocket deliberately filled it with tobacco, and ad- 
vancing toward me, touching his hat, asked whether he 
mought be so bold as to ask for a light. 

" Certainly," said I ; " but I have another cigar here ; let 
me give you that." 

" No, no, sir ; many thanks, many thanks," replied the 
veteran. " I hopes I've been long enough in the sarvice to 
know my place. Pipes for the fo'castle, cigars for the cabin ; 
pipes for the men, cigars for the officers. I likes every man 
to know his station ; I've been aboard ship long enough to 
larn the valu' of disci-//z;z^." 

Somewhat amused at the old man's notions of propriety, 
I remarked : " It would be well if we had a little more of it 
on shore here." 

" You may well say that," said he. " Things is getting 
to a pretty pass here ; there's no respect into the times, sir. 
I'm hard aboard o' seventy year, and can see at the end of 



236 THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 

every cruise that the people is more saarcy and houdacious 
than they was before. Every man 'longshore here is master 
and no man mate. D'ye see, sir, I think the only place for 
a decent man nowadays is aboard ship, where he'll see the 
valu' of dASQx-pline. There every man has to toe the mark. 
If he does his duty he knows he desarves well of his coun- 
try, and gets the good will of his officers ; if he don't, he's 
triced up and gets the cat till he larns. I should like to 
know, sir, now, what would become of the sarvice without 
disci-/////^. There's the 'Old Wagon ' yonder. I've known 
the Old Man* come on deck at midnight and order the offi- 
cer of the deck to beat to quarters ; every man asleep in his 
hammock save the watch, and in jive minutes from the first 
tap of the drum the crew have been at quarters, guns loose, 
stanchions knocked away, magazines opened ; and in eight, 
hammocks stowed, decks sanded, the ship ready for action, 
and a gun fired from each division ; every man at his post, 
from the powder-monkey with his leathern cartridge-bucket 
at the magazine hatch to the surgeon with his knife and 
tourniquets in the cock-pit. That's what I call d\sc\-pline. 
What would become of that 'ere ship, I say, sir, if she w^as in 
the hands of land-lubbers? These here same shore people 
is mighty brave, sir, when there's no danger, and always 
ready to cry out for war ; and d'ye see, I think there's noth- 
ing that will bring them to their senses but the d — d good 
licking they'll get when it comes ; a parcel {puff) of brag- 
ging {puff) fools, always ready to get up a muss {puff), and 
then leave the steady men to get them out of it." {Puff — j 
puff-puff:) 

* The Captain is always called by the sailors '' the Old Man." 



THE DEAD MAX'S SERMOX 237 

" You appear very familiar with this port," said I ; "you 
were just giving the water on the bar." 

" Ay, sir," he replied ; " the water on that 'ere bar I shall 
have cause to remember the longest day I have to live. 
'Cause why ? — that and another carcumstance as is not to be 
mentioned caused me to be made prisoner to a British fleet 
last war." 

"Indeed!" said I. "You were, then, engaged last 
war ? " 

" You may say that, sir," said he, " and tell no lie, if some 
half a dozen actions and as many wounds may be called be- 
ing engaged. I was in the United States frigate ' Presi- 
dent,' Commodore Stephen Decatur, when she struck on 
that 'ere bar, last war, and knocked her cutwater athwart- 
ships, thereby causing one of the fastest ships in the sarvice 
to sail but little better nor a Dutch Logger; and the ' Main- 
mast of the American Navy,'" as we called him, to strike his 
flag to a British fleet. Howsomever, if there had been fifty 
feet of water on that bar 'twould have been all the same. A 
carcumstance turned up in her cruise before as took the luck 
out of her and rendered her an onsafe craft, in m}' judgment, 
to go to sea in in time of war. When a dead man comes to 
life, a'ter he's been dead three hours, and preaches a sarmint 
and calls for a drink, 'tain't a thing as befalls a craft for noth- 
ing. No, no; a dead man don't come back into this here 
world for nothing, that's sartain." And he puffed away with 
redoubled energy. 

"Did such a thinsf occur on board the 'President?'" 
said I. " I never heard of it." 

" Ay, sir, very like," replied he. " You could have been 

* The sobriquet given to Decatur l)y the seamen. 



238 THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 

but a child then, and the thing- was hushed up; but 'twan't 
no use. I say it caused Commodore Stephen Decatur to 
strike his flag to a British fleet." 

"Why, Baxter," said the younger sailor, " I have hear'n 
say she was took by the ' Endymion.' " 

" ' Endymion ' be d — d !" growled the old sailor. " John 
Bull would have to keep a double gang of ship carpenters 
if that 'ere was the way he conquered his inimy. The ' En- 
dymion ' got her saarce, and that hot enough, too, before the 
rest of the British fleet come up. Took by the ' Endymion !' 
D — n their impudence ! They are so used to beating the 
French (as are not by nature a sea-faring people, but good 
enough for them on the land any day), and lying about it 
a'terwards, that I shouldn't wonder next if they said the 
' President ' didn't make no fight at all, and that the skipper 
went aboard in his gig to ask them to take possession. Took 
by the ' Endymion! ' Why, we whipped her before the rest 
of the fleet came within gun-shot. Her rigging, spars and 
sails was cut to pieces, and she drifted a complete wrack, 
firing guns only at long intervals ; and we could have taken 
possession of her, but, bating the honor of the thing, it 
wouldn't have been no use, for, our firing having deadened 
the wind, the rest of the squadron, the ' Majestic,' ' Pomone ' 
and ' Tenedos,' came up hand over hand, choosing their 
positions on our quarters and pitching their old iron into us 
by the ton. So the commander hadn't nothing more to do, 
to save the spillin' of blood, but to surrender. Took by the 
' Endymion ! ' Why, when we had to yaw, to avoid the fire 
of the chase, she could have raked us a dozen times ; but 
d — n the shot did she fire ! We'd 'ave whipped her with 
one watch and sarved out the rest if they had come on one 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 



239 



at a time. The * President's ' men was grit ;- and as for 
Commodore Stephen Decatur, there was no more dodge 
about liim than there was about the mainmast. But, as I 
was saying, it wasn't no use ; the luck was out of the ship, 
and she had to strike." 

" But what was the circumstance you allude to ? " said I. 
" You spoke of a dead man's coming to life." 

" Well, sir," said he, slowly knocking the ashes from his 
pipe and carefully replacing it in his pocket, looking fur- 
tively about him at the same time and speaking low, " this 
here ain't the place nor the time of night I likes to speak of 
such things; 'cause why? Jim Austin's sperit may be 
haunting here away now, for aught I know, as he hailed 
from this here city of New York. But the carcumstance as 
I have mentioned occurred on board of her in her last cruise 
under Commodore Rodgers ; it was in that very cruise. 
D'ye see, sir, we had been out a long time, and scoured the 
Atlantic and Nor' Sea from one end to the other ; but some- 
how, and it wasn't the fault of the old commodore, neither, 
we hadn't the luck to fall in with the inimy, and had naither 
a chance for fighting nor for prize-money ; but as the cruise 
was nigh up we was on our way home, feeling mighty small 
to be sneaking into port without having fired a shot in anger 
nor burnt powder save in scaling the guns, when the car- 
cumstance occurred. D'ye see, sir, there was a man on 
board of the ship from this same place. New York, by the 
name of James Austin, captain of the mizzen-top — a good 
seaman but a bad man, and when he had his grog aboard as 
profane and blasphemous a wretch as ever stepped foot on 
a tarred plank, but nevertheless a right bold and daring fel- 

* A favorite expression of Decatur's when jiraising his officers. 



240 THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 

low. Well, sir, somehow he gets this here consumption, 
and bleeds every day more or less from the lungs, and gets 
weaker and weaker, till the doctor claps him on the sick- 
list. 

" So he gets worse and worse every day, till the doctor 
he condemns him as unseawarthy and turns him over to the 
chaplain so that he mought patch him up for his last cruise. 
The good man did the best he could, but d — 1 a bit could he 
make out of Jim ; for while he was talking to him Jim would 
curse the loblolly boys about him in the sick-bay the same 
as if he hadn't his clearance papers all made out for the great 
ocean of etarnity. The chaplain told the first lieutenant 
(when he was in the bay one day to see that all the sick was 
comfortably taken care of), shaking his head and looking 
sorrowfully at Jim, says he, ' He fears death, sir, no more 
nor a drunken sleep, and is desperately mortal.' He made 
a kind of merit of being houdacious and hardened. As he 
was growing weaker and weaker, and almost suffocated by 
his cough, the doctor orders him, as it was hot and confined 
in the sick-bay, to be slung up in his hammock near the 
main-deck ports, so that he mought have the air; and there 
he was, off and on, for two or three weeks, sinking day by 
day ; but the oath was always uppermost with him, and 
though his anchor was all ready to let go into the quick- 
sands of death he was just as wicked and profane in his whis- 
per as he used to be when he answered the hail of the officer 
of the deck, in the voice of a bull, from the mizzen-top. 

"Well, sir, one morning airly a sail hove in sight, and we 
soon made her out from the masthead to be a man-of-war, 
and before long from the decks, a heavy, double-banked frig- 
ate, with two reg'lar rows of teeth. I'll tell you what, sir, 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 2\\ 

every man's eyes brightened up on board of that 'ere ship, 
from the niggers at the coppers to the commodore in his 
cabin. The drum beat to quarters and the ship was made 
ready for action ; and great glee was there among the men, 
and congratulations — I say, Bill Blunt, ain't that 'ere the 
word the officers uses ? — and congratulations among the 
officers that we shouldn't be obliged to sneak into port with- 
out having fired a shot. In course, Jim's hammock, with all 
the other lumber, was stowed away, and Jim placed out of 
harm's way with the rest of the sick. Says the surgeon to 
him, says he, ' My man, if we go into action, I charge you 
(for Jim was always ready for fight), 1 charge you not to 
leave your cot, for any exertion that you may make will 
start your lungs ; your life will not be .worth ten minutes' 
purchase ; you'll bleed to death on the spot.' Jim said noth- 
ing, but his eyes brightened and a faint smile played across 
his pale lips; so the surgeon telled the lieutenant a'terwards. 
We clapt on all sail in chase, and so did the strange ship ; 
but the ' President' then being in luck, the carcimistance at 
that time not having occurred, gradually overhauled her, 
and getting near enough sent a couple of shot across her 
forefoot to make her tell her name. Shiver my timbers if I 
ever seen so many long faces aboard a Yankee frigate as 
showed themselves of a sudden as the French flag run up 
and floated in the wind from her gaff. ' Stop my grog ! * 
growled old Albro, the surly boatswain ; (and Albro wasn't 
a man as stuck at breaking the third commandment, for 
every other word was with him an oath ; but he never used 
that oath 'cept when he was excited) * May my grog be etar- 
nally stopped I ' growled he between his clenched teeth, * if 
it ain't a d — d Johnny Crapo after all! D — n me, if I was 



242 THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 

the skipper if I wouldn't make the Mounseer make a fight 
of it or co-arce him to send aboard a couple of butts of old 
cog-ni-ac to pay for the deception.' 

" So all hopes of a fight and prize money having vanished 
like scud before a Nor'wester, we had nothing to do but se- 
cure the guns ag'in and make the best of a bad bargain. But 
as for Jim Austin, what does he do but — at the report of the 
first gun that was fired — what does he do but come crawl- 
ing up, and, as the surgeon telled him, hardly reaches his 
gun before he falls, the blood gushes from his mouth and 
nostrils, and they takes him below, bleeding to death. 

" Well, all was made snug ag'in, and the men got their 
breakfast, and the French ship and Jim's case was nigh on 
forgotten, when, as the commodore and first lieutenant was 
walking up and down the quarter-deck, one of the surgeon's 
mates comes up, touches his hat to the lieutenant and says, 
' I report James Austin, sir, captain of the mizzen-top, aged 
forty-two years, dead of consumption at four bells.' ' Very 
well,' says the lieutenant ; ' make it so; let the purser square 
his accounts, and have him ready for burial an hour before 
sun-down this evening.' Now there, sir, you see the valu' 
of disci-pline; a man ain't allowed to be dead, nor the hour 
struck, till the officer of the watch says, 'Make it so.' Well, 
sir, the day wore on ; the men had got their dinners, and the 
officer of the watch was leaning ag'in' the capstan, with his 
trumpet under his arm, when the surgeon comes up and says 
in a low voice, ' There's something very queer going on be- 
low, sir. That man Austin, that was reported dead this 
morning, has come to life ag'in, and is sitting bolt upright ini 
his hammock, addressing the men, who are crowding around I 
him, and in language and terms so different from what was^ 



THE DEAD MAX'S SERMON 



243 



usual with him that I can hardly believe it's the same man.' 
' I'll go below with you,' said the lieutenant, 'and see into 
the matter. He may do mischief among the crew with his 
nonsense.' So they went below and made their way for'ard 
to the sick-bay, which was surrounded by the men, crowd- 
ing around and reaching over each others' shoulders ; and 
there, as the surgeon said, sat the dead man, as white and 
cold and stiff as a marble statute, preaching a sarmint to the 
men. It warn't long before it came to the commodore's 
ears that there was something unusual going on below, and 
he was about to send to inquire into the matter, when the 
surgeon himself comes up and says, ' Commodore, Austin 
has sent for yoii; he says he has one word ior you.' 

" ' Pish I' says the commodore, as was his way when he 
was vexed ; ' what does the man want with me? ' * He says 
he has come from the dead, and has a message for you, com- 
modore, and begs that you will indulge him for the moment 
that he has to remain.' ' Well,' said the commodore, ' I will 
go, lest he should work nonsense among the men, and turn 
my gun-deck into a Quaker meeting.' 

" So he goes down to the sick-bay (and it was a great con- 
descension for the commodore to go down at the call of a 
foremast man, dead or aliye), and there sits Austin, bolt up- 
right in his hammock, white as death, the surgeons each side 
of him, one holding his wrist and the other with his hand on 
his heart; and they said there was no more pulse in his wrist 
than there was in a marlinspike, and that his heart was as 
still as a pirate's conscience. * Commodore,' says Austin, 
and there wasn't a muscle of his face moved save his lips; 
'commodore, a few hours ago and I trembled at your frown, 
but nocu I do not fear you, for I'm come from the dead to 



244 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 



warn you and this ship's company to mend your wa3^s and 
take care of your immortal souls ;' and he then went on for 
nigh on half an hour, and gin a sarmint, which the chaplain 
said ' in beauty of diction and elewation of sentiment was 
equal to that of any divine he had ever heerd, and the lang- 
uage that of a fine and accomplished scholard.' He 
told them it was their duty to stand by their flag, and fight 
in defence of their country (which pleased the commodore; 
'cause why? he was afear'd he'd cow the men), and at the 
eend he warned them all to be ready to follow him; 'for,' 
says he, ' ship-mates, I am but a little way ahead of you, and 
3^ou must all soon follow. And now,' says he, ' I'm done ; 
my arrand is finished ;' and he sunk back cold and stiff into 
his hammock. Well, the men disparsed and went to their 
duty ; but there was many of them as didn't feel easy 
that night, and they was collected in knots, talking it over 
for'ard and atween the guns ; and some of the hardest men 
aboard the ship looked sober, and allowed themselves to be 
disconcarted about the matter. Even old Albro clapt a be- 
lay on his tongue, and stopped swearing for hard on two 
hours, which is more than could be said of him before or 
since, 'cept once't a'terwards, in that same ship, when a 
musket-shot from the Tenedos wept into his mouth, just as 
he was launching an oath at a marine as was in his way, and 
carried half his grinders through the opposite jaw. But, 
d'ye see, Austin wasn't done yet ; for about half an hour 
after that, he rises ag'in in his hammock and says to the sur- 
geon's mate as was looking at him, ' Give me a drink ! ' So 
the surgeon gives him a tin cup of water. Jim takes a drink, 
glares around him for the space of a minute, and then, star- 
ing steadily in the surgeon's eyes, slowly sinks down the 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMOX 245 

third time, stock dead, into his hammock. I'll tell you, sir, 
there was one man aboard as would have been i^lad to have 
been out of that 'ere craft, and his name was William Bax- 
ter. I happened to be near the commodore as he and the 
surgeon was talking in a low tone together in the evening, 
while I was sweeping the weather quarter with my glass, 
and I listened, and I hcar'n the surgeon say : 

" ' Yes, sir ; I have seen cases, something like this, that 
we call in the books catalepsy; but I never heard of one 
speaking in that state.' 

"That was enough for ?//^. The smallest boy on board 
ship knows that a cat is ill luck on board any craft. Well, 
sir, Jim was at last dead, in airnest, and sewed up in his 
hammock, with a thirty -two pound shot tied to his heels; 
and the commodore's orders was that he should be buried 
next day at seven bells. Did ye ever see a burial at sea, sir ? 
If not, to my mind you never seen the right way to return 
the Almighty what is left of one of His creeturs after his 
cruise in this world is up and his des-tined sarvice ended. 
I've seen shore folks bury their fellow-creeturs ; but, like 
everything as landsmen does, it's onhandsome and not ship- 
shape. It's only a few days aback that me and Bill Blunt, 
this man as sits here on the log, alongside o' me, was ashore 
on liberty, and overhauled one o' their funerals, as they call 
them, under way to carry some poor feller to his last moor- 
ing-ground. There was a horse towing a wagon covered 
with a tarpaulin, for all the world like our powder-barge, 
'cept it hadn't the red flag on it; for, d'ye see, sir, when we 
brings powder aboard we always hoists a red flag, as a cau- 
tion, on the barge, and afore we comes alongside, the boats- 
wain pipes, ' All hands, ahoy ! Put out the tires in the gal- 



24t) THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 

leys, and all pipes, cigars and lights aboard the ship ! Wake 
up, cooks ! d'ye hear, men ? d'ye hear ? ' And the magazine 
isn't opened till every particle of fire aboard ship is reported 
' out ' by the officer. 

" But, as I was saying, this here craft was towed by a 
white horse, and in its wake followed a long fleet of coaches 
and other conweyances. In the first two or three of them, 
to be sure, there was passengers as had their pumps a-going-, 
and was swabbing up the water with white handkerchers ; 
but in all the rest the people was laughin', and talkin', and 
looking out of the ports, as onconcarned as if they was fol- 
lowing a brute beast to his grave, instead of one of their 
kind. I say, sir, the sight was onpleasant to me ; and I says 
to Bill Blunt, says I, * Bill, look how little these here shore 
folks cares for their ship-mates;' but Bill was three sheets 
hauled in the wind, and he only hiccups, and, pulling off his 
hat, bows to the procession, and ' wishes their worships a 
pleasant journey.' Bill was hard up, and I seen it wasn't no 
use to talk to him ; so 1 takes off my hat and stands by and 
looks, while he steadies himself ag'in' the lamp-post ; and I'm 
free to say that them lamp-posts is a great convenience to 
sea-faring men when they has their grog aboard, as I've 
know'd by my own experience in a squall. But, as I was 
saying, we steadies ourselves by the post, with our hats in 
our hands, till the procession gets by ; but it gin me a dis- 
like to all shore burials ; and all I ask is that when Bill Bax- 
ter's time comes he may be launched off soundings in blue 
water. 

" Howsomdever, at seven bells the bo'swain's whistle was 
heerd, and old Albro and his mate's hoarse voices sounding 
down the hatchways, ' All hands ahoy, to bury the dead ! 



THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 247 

Below there, all hands to bury the dead ! ' The body of 
Jim was brought up out of the sick-bay, sewed up in its 
hammock, and laid on a grating at the gangway ; the offi- 
cers, with their epaulettes on their shoulders, their swords 
at their sides, and laced scrapers in their hands, standing on 
one side, and the men, in their clean jackets and trowsers, 
and hats off, on the other, just aft the mainmast, Jim's mess- 
mates close aboard the grating. The ship was hove to, the 
main-top sails aback, the fiag half-mast, and nothing was 
hcered to break the silence 'cept the slapping of the blocks 
and rigging occasionally ag'in the masts as she slowly rose 
and fell in the heavy swell. And there was the chaplain, 
surrounded by us sea-faring men, about to return to the Al- 
mighty the hulk of our late shipmate. A shipmate's faults, 
and may be vices, is forgotten at that time, when we sees 
him laid stiff and silent before us, and thinks that there he 
lies as has pulled at the same rope, laid out on the same yard, 
messed from the same kid, and may befou'tatthe same gun, 
with us ; I sa}' his faults is forgotten, and the best feelings 
of a seaman only remain ; and many an eye that has looked 
into the muzzle of an inimy's forty-two without winking, at 
such times runs down with tears like a child; but somehow 
that 'ere wasn't the case with the body of Jim Austin as he 
lay there on the grating. The men was afeard ; and when 
the chaplain comes to the part in the sarvice, * we consign 
him to the deep,' and the body plunged overboard, every 
man aboard of that craft, officers and all, breathed freer, as 
if they'd got rid of a sort of Jonah as boded ill to the ship. 
The men rushed to the ports, expecting to see the body rise 
ag'in and float, and sure enough it did. It shot half out of 
the water, and then sunk again — rose and sunk — and then 



248 THE DEAD MAN'S SERMON 

slowly rising, floated half its length above the swell, in 
which it surged and rolled from side to side, as if it were 
trying to regain the ship ; and there it remained, floating in 
our wake, until, as the ship got way, it gradually grew less 
and less, and finally disappeared. Now, sir, it's my belief, 
and the belief of some of the oldest sea-faring men I have 
met, that Jim Austin's sperit always haunted about that 'ere 
ship arter that, and in spite lent a hand to knock her cut- 
water athwart ship when she thumped on the bar, and that 
thereby, as I said, she had to strike her flag to a " 

" First cutter, ahoy ! " hailed a fine deep voice. 

"Ay, ay, sir ! " answered the veteran, abruptly breaking 
off his narration ; and by the light of the wharf-lantern and 
the glitter of the uniforms I perceived a couple of officers 
approaching along the pier. In a moment or two more they 
were seated in the stern-sheets of the barge, the old seaman 
at the tiller. 

" Oars ! " said the officer, and each man's oar elevated, 
stood upright before him. " Shove off ! " and the bowman 
gave the bow a sheer with his boat-hook, " Let fall ! " The 
oars fell simultaneously into the water, dashing around them 
phosphorescent fire as they fell. " Give way, men ! " The 
boat shot away, and soon the measured roll of the oars in 
the row-locks became fainter and fainter, and the boat was 
lost in the darkness. 

A few moments more and my horse was pawing impa- 
tiently the deck of the steamer as we dashed up the bay on 
our way to the good and ancient city of Gotham. 



A TRIP THROUGH LONG ISLAND SOUND.— 

No. I. 

HELL GATE. 



SO at five o' the clock in the afternoon of the — of August, 
Anno Domini wind S.S.W, and the sky as clear 

as a bell, I stood in propria persona, my stick in my hand, 
and cape on my shoulders, on the deck of the steamer at the 
Battery, surrounded by all the noise, hubbub and confusion 
attending the departure of that Leviathan on its nocturnal 
journey. The Pilot's signal was given, the voice of the 
Captain, "All ashore that's going" was heard, the plank 
hauled in, the fasts cast off, the huge paddles revolved, the 
wharf slid by us, we passed the pier head, and with gather- 
ing speed shot out on to the bosom of the calm and beautiful 
bay. 

We swept around the Battery, and dashed like a race 
horse, with momentarily increasing velocity, on our course, 
through the various craft crowding the east river. Gliding 
past the borders of the great city, the busy industry of man 
every where evident to eye and ear, soon we were hurrying 
through the beautiful scenery of Hell Gate, the gay and 
cheerful villas shining among the green trees on the 
island of Manhattan, while Blackwell's reared her castellated 
and looped prisons at our sides. 

With steadiness our huge line steamer with undiminished 



250 HELL GATE 

speed, rushed upon her course, reckless alike of boiling 
eddies, and rocks, and tides and whirlpools. A wide and 
beautiful bay opened on our left. Here in our youthful days 
did we watch with awe the diving bell at work, suspended 
above the submerged wreck of the British man-of-war, 
" Hussar," and here in our bovish fancy did we see " wedges 
of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, inestimable jewels, all 
scattered in the bottom of the sea." The Hussar struck 
upon a rock in passing through the Gate in the Revolution, 
and was with difficulty kept afloat, till running her into this 
bay she sunk in deep water near the shore, her crew escap- 
ing with their lives. She was supposed to have had the mili- 
tary chest of the troops on board, containing a hundred thou- 
sand pounds in silver. 

Whether true or not, the probability was sufficient to in- 
duce the formation of companies at different times to explore 
her slimy and kelp-covered timbers in its pursuit, and much 
real treasure was sunk in the vain effort to obtain that which 
in all probability never has been. The tradition handed 
down, that she was a frigate, is incorrect ; she was a sloop of 
war, with a single gun deck and consequently but one bat- 
tery. 

An old man (a stout lad at the time), relates that passing 
one morning down by the Flymarket, he was accosted by 
"a soldier officer" (her Lieutenant of Marines) who re- 
quested him to carry on board a pair of shoes that he had 
just purchased. 

He went down to the end of the wharf, and finding one 
of her barges putting off, jumped in, and was soon set on 
board of her, as she lay moored in the middle of the stream. 
Enquiring for the Purser, he delivered the shoes and his 



HELL GATE 



251 



message, and receiving the j)istareen, his promised reward, 
ascended the deck again to return, but to use his own ex- 
pression, " found that getting into a King's ship and getting 
out were two very different things." While he was below, 
the crew, it appears, had been mustered to receive certain 
prize money, and all his inquiries and solicitations as to how 







DUTCH MANSION. 






he was to get ashore, were answered by such jeers and jibes, 
such pushing and hustling, that his soul fairly sunk within 
him, and to avoid the boatswain's cats, which began to fly 
around among the rioters Avith the most impartial plenty, and 
in the distribution of which he came in for his share, he was 



252 



HELL GATE 



forced to creep in between two of the guns opposite the main 
hatch, waiting- a favorable opportunity for escape. He 
eventually succeeded in getting again below, and represent- 
ing his case to the Purser. That officer commiserating his 
situation, came on deck, and directed him to be put on shore 
by a boat, much to the dissatisfaction of the rough men-of- 
war's men, who by no means restrained their mutterings, as 
they "gave way," to stem the tide which ran almost as 
swiftly then as now. 

In those days the carters loaded their wood from along- 
side the vessels in Coenties Slip, and the salutes were fired 
from old Fort George, just below the Bowling Green. The 
Powder Magazine was placed well without the city limits on 
the " Common," the spot where now stands the City Hall. 
The Hessians quartered on the Bowery Road, well nigh as 
far out as Grand street, and the English Red Coats bar- 
racked at a distance, On a line now known as Chambers 
street. Wall street was the " West end," where were to be 
found the Howes and Clintons, the Knyphausens and De 
Heysers, with their liveried servants, and powdered and 
laced footmen. The Theatre, " that wicked school of Satan," 
where the English Officers, many of them, themselves per- 
formed, was in John street, the present site of Thorburn's 
Seed Store. " I was never into it but once't," said the old 
man ; " I was never into it but once't, and then it cost me a 
gold half Jo, for I stood treat for the whole company. Talk 
about dress! Why, the people don't know how to dress 
now-a-days. You ought to a-seen the gentle folks then — 
why, there was the fine cloth coat with its broad flaps, and 
buttons the size of a dollar; the shirt of Holland, seventeen 
hunder' fine, and the cambric cravat with its lace ends, tied 



HELL G.-n^K 253 

in a handsome knot in front ; the brocade vest, covering the 
hips, and the velvet breeches, with the paste, or it mought 
be, diamond buckles at the knees; silk stockings, with their 
embroidered clocks half up the legs, and tiie polished 
Spanish leather shoes ; the queue, tied with its black ribbon, 
hanging down the back, playing forward and backward in 
the powder on the shoulders; the long gold-headed cane, 
and the cocked hat under the arm." However, to return to 
the wreck. Nothing was ever recovered from her, save 
some trifles: rusty cannon and small arms were got up, and 
a bottle of " Old Jamacia," crusted over with oysters and 
barnacles, which, they say, was delicious. Large sums ot 
money were expended at different times, but no return ever 
realized. 

Sir Peter Parker afterwards passed through the gate in 
his frigate, holding a pistol to the ear of the pilot, Avith the 
comfortable assurance that if the ship touched, his brains 
should be the forfeit. Fortunately skill and good luck saved 
the pilot from this naval Judge Lynch. As we passed 
on, the beautiful shores, with their gay villas, glided by us 
like a moving diorama. Trim yachts with gaudy streamers, 
sloops careering in the breeze till their green bottoms were 
thrown almost entirel}' out of the water, and square rigged 
vessels bellying out their white canvas in lordly dignity, 
were all left behind us, as we rounded " Throg's," opposite 
to which lies the fortress, erected by the general Govern- 
ment, to cover the city upon its Eastern side, which with 
a work of corresponding magnitude upon the Long Island 
shore, will protect it from any attack in that direction. As 
we sped out upon the bosom of the broad blue Sound, our 
gallant boat rushed forward with increased vehemence, and 



254 



HELL GATE 



"in going we did devour the way." As we plowed its sur- 
face, the day was closing and the last rays of the setting sun 
seemed to linger, to gild the white sails here and there rest- 
ing upon it, before gathering himself into a huge globe of fire, 
he should reluctantly sink beneath the horizon, leaving the 
Christain here, to warn the Hindoo and the Mussulman, 
that Brahma and Alia, in the other Hemisphere, were there 
awaiting prayer. 

The gray twilight, like mist, gradually gained upon us, 
and ere long the constellations were quivering in the heavens, 
while the kindly lights and beacons erected by the hand of 
man, shone steadily and hospitably along the shores. 



A TRIP THROUGH LONG ISLAND SOUND. 

No. II. 



BURNING OF FAIRFIELD AND DANBURV 




AS I pursued my solitary walk up and down the prom- 
enade deck, my mind was aroused from its train of 
reflections by the Light shining in the distance on the 
Connecticut shore, and with little effort I recognized it as 
marking tiie spot where were passed my school-boy days. 
There thou liest, thought I ; thy fields are just as green 
and verdant, the meadow-lark raising his wild notes as sweetly 
from their midst, thy shady woods as still, the squirrel and 



256 BURNING OF FAIRFIELD AND DANBURY 

partridge in their depths ; thy swamps as thick, entangled 
with undergrowth, brilliant with wild flowers, the muskrat 
and graceful teal sailing as safely in their waters ; thy creeks 
as fresh and clear, the oysters clinging to the rocks 
waiting to be taken, the fish sweeping around the rustic 
skiff all ready to be speared ; and thy orchards ! with just 
such tempting fruit waiting ^//^^r schoolboys' appetites. The 
scene of my boyish frolics and truant days — days when 
there was no " satis to the jam," there thou liest, still — still 
enough — yet it was not always so of yore. Thou hast known 
the pomp, the pride — ay, felt the circumstance of war. 

The town was burnt by the British during the Revolu- 
tion, and acts of great atrocity and cruelty committed b}'' 
the licentious soldiery. I well recollect how I used to listen 
with all m}'' ears to the narrations of "Old Kit," one of 
Africa's blackest sons, who, torn in his childhood from his 
native sands in Guinea, had been passed, for nearly three 
generations, from master to master, outliving them all into 
freedom and four-score. After firing most of the houses the 
enemy's column moved toward Ridgefield, with the inten- 
tion of destroying the neighboring town of Danbury, about 
ten miles farther on. As they moved along the main road 
they were fired upon by the enraged inhabitants from every 
spot that would afford a cover. As they passed the corn- 
fields, which were then in full height, they were particularly 
exposed, their officers picked off and numbers thinned, by 
an unseen foe, whose whereabouts was only marked by the 
smoke of his musket rising above the tall green stalks, and 
who was out of reach long before the fire could be returned. 
" De Red Coats fire whole platoons in dem dar fields ob 
corn," said Kit, " but dar no use — our people was off 



BURNING OF FAIRFIELD AND D ANBURY 257 

as soon as dey fire ; sarve 'em right, burnin' peo- 
ple's housen." In one place, a company of militia 
that had ensconced themselves behind a stone fence 
until they came within musket range, poured in a fire that 
made a complete chasm in the column, retreating and 
escaping under the smoke of their own guns. Among other 
deeds of brutality that are related of them, the troop seized 
upon a poor old man, who had remained behind in the town 
in the hope that his age and infirmities might protect him, and 
havingenvelopedhimin a blanket soaked in rum, they set fire 
to it, bidding him, with savage laughter, run for his life. 
The poor man hurried, with all the strength he had, to 
throw himself into an adjacent pond, but before he could 
reach it was bayonetted to death amid the jeers and execra- 
tions of the demons in human shape. Some few of the houses 
escaped the conflagration, as being residences of tories, or 
adjoining them. One of the latter stands to this day, with 
the hole made by a cannon-shot in its side. The last forty 
years, swarms of bees have ensconced themselves annually 
within the walls, and collected large stores of honey within 
the ceilings, which the owner will not allow to be disturbed. 
" Young Massa," said Kit, " you see dat little rise by de 
Meetin' House, dar, jis by dat trees? well, arter de British 
wasgone,darI see little red rag stick up out of de ground — old 
nigger's eyes was better den dan day is now — dat was 
next day. Well, me and Hi. Lewis — not dat little noisy 
debbil dar, dat young Hi, as is making him mischief — but 
old Hi' him's grandfather as is dead and gone — me and old 
Hi' dig and find — what you tink we find dar, eh? — we find 
body of young soldier officer in him regimentals, him red 
coat and eperletts and sword and all, buried two feet under 



258 B URNING OF FA I R FIELD A ND DA NB UR Y 

ground jis where he fell. Old Kit seen handsome men in 
him day, but dat young soldier officer was de handsomest 
man dat he ever did see. Him had light hair and blue eyes 
and little picter in his bosom, him sweetheart I reckon, hung 
round him neck by blue ribbon, but muskit-ball dat kill him 
I'ag in one corner of it, as it went right tro' his heart. Oh I 
but dat dar war beautiful man — old nigger say him war 
beautiful young man. Massa Dr. Clark say, ' Pity, pity ; 
him fine young man, but neber know what hurt him ' — but 
we lay him down decent in de burying-ground after dat." 
Numberless were the traditions treasured up by the old peo- 
ple, and little, less than little, was the love they bore the 
British. But for thee, old Kit — dark, charcoal, jetty Kit, 
I ne'er shall see thee more — ne'er shall my truant steps again 
linger at thy cabin door in the little dell in the woods. Ne'er 
again shall I drink thy spruce beer whizzing from its 
black bottle, nor see the yellow of thine eyes beaming 
with satisfaction as thou dost watch its transfer to my 
youthful lips ; no more shall I hear thy legends of witches 
and hobgoblins ; alas ! no more e'en believe in ghosts and 
spirits ; no more in early morning see the blue smoke 
rising in its spiral columns above thy rustic home ; thou 
hast gone, long, and long ago ; gone to that bourne 
where old Dinah's voice shall not follow thee, nor e'en 
the bark of " Spot," thy little trundle tail, fall sweetly on 
thine ear. 

No more on thy block in the corner shall 1 see thee 
puffing from thy smoke-enameled pipe, while thou dost 
turn the fish caught in the neighboring creek upon the 
coals; thy hearthstone and thy hut are gone — a pile of 
clay and stones, relics of the old chimney, are all that 



BURNING OF FAIRFIELD AND D ANBURY 259 

remain to tell that there was human habitation. Peace 
to thy ashes, Kit, they rest in the black people's " section" 
in the graveyard, not even in death mingling with the white 
race. 

The old giant elms tower above thee, but no carved mon- 
ument, with boasting epitaph, marks thy whereabouts ; two 
gray stones, the one at thy head and the other at thy heels, 
show where were consigned thy ashes. Farewell, honest, 
simple-hearted Kit ; should I reach thy years, I still should 
carry in remembrance the happy hours I passed with thee, 
the squeaking of thy violin, the shrill notes of thy " wry- 
necked fife ; " even the toll of thy funeral bell, honest old ne- 
gro, shall rouse in my memory my happy hours with thee. 

The British proceeded to Danbury, and destroyed a 
large quantity of stores and provisions which had been de- 
posited there for the American forces. The streets literally 
ran ankle deep in fat from the burning beef and pork. In 
the height of the conflagration a somewhat ludicrous exhi- 
bition was made by a squad of troopers chasing an old man, 
endeavoring to escape on horseback with a roll of cloth, his 
property, under his arm. The cloth, unfolding and flying 
behind him, so frightened the horses of the dragoons, that, 
although they were more fleet, they could not reach the old 
man with their sabers in their attempts to cut him down. 
" Give in, old daddy," they at length shouted ; "give in, and 
take quarter." But the old daddy, tenacious of his prop- 
erty, would not give in, and won the race, saving his cloth 
and skin. 

The surrounding country was soon in arms, and the en- 
emy, having effected their object, commenced their retreat. 
At one time, when the column was in full march, it was 



2 6o BURNING OF FAIRFIELD AND D ANBURY 

brought to a halt, and the artillery hurried up to the front, 
by the appearance of a mounted man on a ridge just above 
them, who appeared to be giving commands to a force be- 
hind in tones of decision and authority. As soon as his 
words could be distinguished, they heard the imposing orders: 
" Halt — the whole universe ! Break off by kingdoms ! Em- 
pires to the front !" They of course discovered that it was a 
madman. Wooster and Arnold hung upon their rear as 
they retreated, and they were glad to effect a hurried embark- 
ation in their boats, which were awaiting them off Compo. 
Wooster was killed, shot through the body, as he turned in 
his saddle to cheer on his men. Arnold came near sharing the 
same fate, but exhibited his usual cool daring and intrepidity. 
His horse was shot by an English grenadier, and fell upon 
him in such a manner that he was entangled, and could not 
immediately arise. The soldier hurried up to bayonet the 
disabled officer ; but Arnold, disengaging himself, drew his 
pistol from the holsters, and shot the man dead as he ap- 
proached. 



A TRIP THROUGH LONG ISLAND SOUND. 

No. HI. 



N I G II r ALARM 



BUT to return to our journey. As the evening wore on 
group after group disappeared from the deck, and by 
and by I myself descended to the cabin, prepared to 
try to rest. I threw myself into my berth, and soon all was 
still, save here and there a sleepy waiter might be seen 
gathering the boots together, or obeying the instructions 
given him by some passenger in undertones. But the quiet 
of the cabin was before long broken by the entry of several- 
noisy young men, who had, by drinking at the bar, deprived 
themselves of the slight modicum of sense with which na- 
ture had endowed them. The noise and profanity wxre 
borne by the passengers for a time in silence ; but finally, 
by absence from restraint, became so insufferable that we 
were induced to call a waiter and send him with a message 
to the captain, complaining of the unreasonable disturbance. 
The captain was soon on the spot, and by his remonstrances 
the disturbance quelled ; but he had no sooner left 
the cabin than it was resumed, and became worse 
than before. I had heard for some time ominous 
sounds of dissatisfaction proceeding from the berth 
above me ; and sundry creaks and broken exclama- 



262 NIGHT ALARM 

tions of wrath warned me that its occupant was about be- 
stirring himself. At length a night-capped head protruded 
itself over its side, and a solemn voice, in tones and gravity 
becoming a country deacon proceeded from it. "I think that 
it is a great and manifest wrong," said the speaker, "that all 
the passengers in the cabin of this public conveyance are to be 
disturbed in this manner by a parcel of noisy, riotous young 

men, who " " Bah ! Uncle, pull in your night-cap," was 

the insulting interruption called forth by this reasonable re- 
monstrance ; but, instead of silencing, my neighbor's pluck 
was thoroughly up, and raising his voice so that it could be 
heard to the very extremities of the cabin, completely 
drowning the vociferations of the rioters, he continued : "I 
think it a shame — I see no reason why we should be de- 
prived of our rest, more than our money ; and of the two I 
had rather be robbed of the last." The yells of the 
rioters now became perfectly outrageous. " I move 
that if these fellows are not instantly quiet, that they 
be put out of the cabin in their shirts" — and suiting the 
action to the word, throwing his legs over the side of the 
berth — " and I will be the first to do it." " I second that 
motion," cried one passenger ; "and I," "and I," "and I," 
resounded from every part of the cabin. " D — n their eyes,'' 
growled a deep bass voice, from the berth just beyond me, 
in tones that had evidently been modulated by a speaking 
trumpet, " d — n their eyes, if they give us any more of their 
noise, I'll thrash the whole raft of them myself. Shut up, you 
infernal whelps! " 

The spirit of wrath was up among the passengers, and 
the rioters were effectually subdued. They slunk away, and 
quiet was restored. I supposed all this time that my friend 



NIGH T ALA RM 263 

of the night-cap was simmering in wrath and indignation in 
his berth above me, but was equally surprised and amused 
when, after a lapse of some ten minutes, the head again bent 
over the side towards me, and a good-natured voice issued 
from its mouth : " I say, we put them fellows down nice, 
didn't we ? " as calm and good-naturedly as if its owner had 
had no hand in the belligerent manifestations so lately made. 
The regular jar and clank of the machinery was soon all 
that disturbed the restored quiet of the cabin, and the moan 
or sigh of some uneasy sleeper all that gave evidence that 
a hundred souls were resting within its confines. I gradu- 
ally lost my recollection, and fell asleep, but could not have 
been long in that state when I was aroused by a cry so 
shrill and agonizing — " Stop her, stop her, for God's sake 
stop her! "- that, in common with twenty others, I was out 
of my berth, hurrying upon deck, before I was well aware 
of what I was about. Supposing that we were running on 
the rocks, or about to be run into by some other vessel, 
the passengers, some dressed, others not, as they had 
sprung from their berths, rushed up the companion-way. 
There we found the captain standing in his shirt and 
pantaloons, apparently as much in amazement as ourselves. 
The engineer, hearing the cr}-, had stopped the engine with- 
out waiting for orders from the pilot ; and there we all 
stood, staring at each other like the drunkards in Auer- 
bach's cellar in Leipsic. 

The upshot of the affair turned out to be that one of 
the deck passengers had dreamed that he was overboard, 
and the screams which he had sent forth in his sleep had thus 
alarmed the whole boat. Order was of course again re- 
stored, and we returned to our berths. As I went to 



264 NIGHT ALARM 

mine, I was amused by the nonchalance exhibited by an 
English half-pay officer whose berth was near mine. He was 
very coolly finishing his elaborate toilette previous to going 
upon deck to ascertain the cause of the alarm. " You take 
matters coolly, sir," said I. "Oh, yes," he replied; "I 
thought that if I had got to drown, I might as well drown 
with my clothes on, like a gentleman. 



A TRIP THROUGH LONG ISLAND SOUND. 

No. IV. 



"THE BOYS." 



NEVER a good sleeper on board of a steamboat, and 
my nerves somewhat jarred by the alarm, I remained 
for a long time awake after the sounds from the va- 
rious berths showed me that at least it was forgotten by 
their occupants. 

While cogitating upon the events of the night, my mind 
in connection with the uproar of the noisy youths in the 
earlier part of it, recurred to some humorous scenes and ad- 
ventures to which I had been witness years by gone at 

N . It so happened that I was there at a time, and thrown 

into company and companionship with alaughter-loving, fun- 
seeking, mirth-requiring set, whose nocturnal quarters were 

at "the Colony," the Bachelor's row, at Hall, and ill 

betide any unfortunate wight who sought his slumbers there 
until long after the witching time of night. " By'r Ladie !" 
it was a place profane, that entry. Little was heard of grace, 
but shouts of uproarious laughter, loud and long-continued, 
bass voices in merry chorus, the ringing of bells, and cries 
for "waiter," "sherry cobblers," "mint juleps," "punches 
strong and sweet," " cigars and pipes," for its noisy denizens. 
But with all their youthful jollity and excess, the gentleman 



266 " THE BOYS" 

still predominated, and there were right witty, generous and 
noble spirits among them. 

A few short years have glided by, and where are they? 
Some are dead; one fine fellow has killed his man, and wan- 
ders a homicide, with the mark of Cain upon his brow, too 
late awakened to the pangs of conscience ; another — but why 
moralize ? They are dispersed on their life journey, some 
on the blue ocean, some on the green prairie, some on moun- 
tain top, some in the toiling city, each in his vocation, but 
not likely to meet again. One evening " L.," of our number, 
the most popular and amusing, was missing from his seat 
upon the back piazza, where our body politic with their 
cigars used to congregate in the earlier part of the night, 
and his absence soon became object of remark and specula- 
tion. Various were the surmises — some thought he had I 
dined out, others that he'd been shot dead with the bright 
" glances of some white wench's merry black eye," that — 
but surmise was soon silenced by the fact that he had gone — 
to bed. " To be up betimes was to be up after midnight," 
but to be abed before was strange — " 'twas passing strange " I 
— unnatural, not to be allowed. To be in bed by nine! — 
'twas monstrous ; such innovation on time and place was not 
to be permitted — not even thought of ; and it was determined 
that " come what, come may, sleep to his eyelids should be 
a thing forbid." To second so laudable a determination, a 
waiter was summoned, and being duly advised of his duty, 
soon reached the door of " No. 6," where the unfortunate 
" L." was paying his devotions to the sleep god. A gentle, 
modest, then louder knock was heard, and again repeated; 
finally followed the drowsy reply of the inmate, " Who's 
there? What do you want?" "Here it is, sir," was the 



" THE BOYS" 267 

obsequious answer; "here it is." "Here's what?" "The 
warm water, sir." " Warm water ?" " Yes, sir, the warm 
water for the sick gentleman." " Warm water — why, I'm 
not sick, it must be for some other room." " Beg pardon, 
sir." And the waiter returned to inform his employers on 
the piazza that it was a mistake, and that the gentleman in 
" Six " was " not in the laste unwell." 

A suitable time being allowed to elapse for " L." to forget 
the disturbance, and be again upon the shores of Lethe, an- 
other waiter was summoned, and soon standing with thunder- 
ing knock at his chamber door. " Hallo ! What do you want? 
Who's there?" replied the startled voice within. "Here's 
the medicine, sir." "Medicine! what medicine?" "Why, 
sir, the rhubarb and magnesia for the sick gentleman." 
" Confound your stupidity ; the sick man is in some other 
room — clear out !" and the astonished waiter, like his pre- 
decessor, returned to tell his story to those that sent him. 
A longer interval of quiet was now allowed, and the occu- 
pant of "No. 6" was far gone into forgetfulness, when 
thump, thump, thump, again at his door, started him wide 
awake. "What in the foul fiend's name do 3'Ou want?" 
"The Docthur is below, sir; will I tell him to come 
up ?" " Will you put your head inside the door, you stupid 
scoundrel, that I may throw my boot at it ; this is the third 
time I have been disturbed to-night ; off with you, and find 
your sick man somewhere else !" and the frightened waiter 
retured to the gentlemen with, " Sure, there's nothing the 
m:itter with the gentleman, save wrath." A sufficiently long 
time elapsed, and the waiters, to speak in a military sense, 
having, like tirailleurs, done the skirmishing, it was deter- 
mined that the main body, the part)' on the piazza, should 



268 " THE BOYS" 

charge in solid column, and make a final, determined and 
desperate attack. 

Preceded by a servant with a large supply of lights, 
cigars, cobblers, slings and juleps, and of drinks '^ id genus 
otnne," their measured tramp was heard along the entry 
leading to its fated portal. " Halt !" from the van. The 
column faced to the right, and the long still entry returned 
the echo ; knock, knock, knock, thundering at the door of 
devoted " No. 6." Suspecting what was in the wind, " L." 
remained perfectly still, and returned no answer ; " thump, 
thump, thump." and the clatter of the opposite windows re- 
turned the jarring sound — thump, thump, thump, each blow 
given with more urgent emphasis, and the reluctant " What's 

wanting?" at length heard in reply. R 's deep voice, 

deepened into sepulchral tones, slowly answered, " Here's 
the undertaker to measure the dead gentleman for a cofBn 
in '' No. 6." This lugubrious information elicited from the 
occupant no reply. There ensued a pause. " He's jumped 
out of the window," said the van, "committed suicide," 
growled the center, " crumpit, eriipit, evasit .^" shouted the 
rear. A suitable and befitting time having elapsed for the 
opening of the door, snuffled R. in the tones of a Methodist 
preacher, " I move that we now enter the room of our de- 
ceased friend and make suitable provision for his obsequies. 
Open sesame !" and suiting the action to the word, followed 
by a press of the shoulder, the door flew open, and there sat 
L. bolt upright, his hands folded before him in his bed, re- 
signedly awaiting coming events, and that that the gods had 
for him in store. He was too good a fellow to be sulky, 
however much he was annoyed by this unwelcome intrusion 
upon his quiet; besides " it would have been no use," and 



" THE BOYS" 269 

with his glass in his hand, surrounded by jolly companions, 
some seated on the bed, some on the tables and on each 
other's laps, the atmosphere of the room opaque with smoke, 
his voice was heard ere long in the Bacchanalian chorus with 
which the wise pates saw fit to surround him. There were 
among them some exceedingly " hard youths," to whom 
mischief and fun were synonymous. 

One night they changed all the boots that the porter had 
cleaned and left at the doors of the rooms for their respect- 
ive occupants, and the next morning a little before the sec- 
ond bell, such ringing and shouting for "waiter" had rarely 
been heard e'en in that noisy quarter; such objurgations, 
such imprecations, not deep only, but loud, as were hurled 
at the head of the unfortunate "boots." There was "No. 
2 " with feet the size of Goliah, tugging at a pair of delicate 
patent leathers, into the leg of which he could scarcely 
squeeze his toes, while the unfortunate dandy in " No. 9 " 
stood staring in speechless astonishment at the huge clumsy 
thick soled ''country makes" which had taken their place. 

" Washington ties," the comfort of gouty old gentlemen, 
were awaiting feet that cared not a stiver for a twenty mile 
tramp, while morocco pumps were provided for feet ac- 
quainted only with twinges and bandages of flannel. " No. 
13's " straps were cut off, and "22 " had his filled with whis- 
key punch, whilst " 17 " found two tumblers and a wine glass 
in his; "27" and " 28's " door handles, the rooms being op- 
posite, were made fast by a rope across the entry, and " 32's " 
bed, bedding and carpet were formed into a pyramid in the 
center of the room, with the wash bowl and pitcher as its 
apex, while " No. 7" was horrified by having all the furni- 



270 " THE jBOYS" 

ture of the adjoining unoccupied room piled against his 
door, tumbling in upon him as he opened it in the morning. 
A few years only have passed by, and as men sadder and 
wiser, how do many of the actors look back in wonder at 
suck pleasure? 



A TRIP THROUGH LONG ISLAND SOUND— 

No. V. 



THE UNFORTUNATE LOVER. 



BUT while upon practical jokes, I recollect one that 
occurred at Yale, that venerable academic matron, in 
years gone by. B., a somewhat sentimental youth, 
roomed with two brother soph's who had about as much 
romance in their composition as could be analyzed from a 
blacksmith's anvil. Now the suites of rooms in that ancient 
institution are composed of three, two bed, and one sitting- 
room, to say nothing of the luxury of a wood closet. B., 
besides writing poetry and playing on the flute, was also 
desperately in love, and used to go and see his inamorata 
every night, where his stay in " lengthened sweetness, long 
drawn out," usually terminated at about the witching hour. 
One very cold night, his chums, being instigated by the 
father of evil, determined as an offset to his enjoyment that 
they would have some fun at his expense. So, getting a 
large cat, which was in the habit of prowling about the mess 
hall, they by coaxing and a little gentle force succeeded in 
placing her snugly in the centre of B.'s bed, where, the 
quarters being warm and comfortable, puss was contented 
to remain. Raking up the fire and putting out the lights, 
these two wicked youths then retired to their beds, and 



272 THE UN FOR TUNA TE LO VER 

there, chuckling in anticipated delight, awaited the r«/-as- 
trophe. By and by up came B., fumbled at the door, and 
opening it walked in. Finding all cold, dark and comfort- 
less, he grumbled at the want of consideration that had thus 
left him so inhospitable a reception, but, summoning his phil- 
osophy, made the best of a bad bargain, and proceeded with 
what alacrity he might to divest himself of his garments in 
the dark, his movements not the less expeditious from the 
cold. 

Having proved Plato's definition of humanity, he gave 
one spring, and in an instant was beneath the bed clothes ; 
but in another Grimalkin's claws, suddenly disturbed from 
her slumbers, were planted in his unfortunate legs. With 
a scream of terror B. bounced out of bed on one side, while 
the cat, in equal alarm, darted out on the other. Dashing 
around the room, frantic with alarm, springing at the win- 
dows and rushing through the fire-place, scattering the 
sparks and live embers about the room, the cat screamed 
and yelled, while B., in amazement, his hair standing on end, 
and the drops of perspiration rolling off his forehead with 
terror, danced first on one leg and then on the other, shout- 
ing for assistance at the top of his lungs in the center. 

The mirth soon " became so fast and furious " that to 
save poor B. from more dire consequences, the mischief- 
makers, pretending to awake from slumber, were fain to in- 
terpose, and by opening the door allow the cat to escape 
into the entry, from whence she soon again ensconced her- 
self in her favorite haunts under the roof in the garret of the 
"old South Middle." 



A TRIP THROUGH LONG ISLAND SOUND. 

No. VL 



ALWENTURE ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 




MARQUETTE DESCENDING THE MISSISSIPPI. 

THE alarm that had so seriously aroused us from our 
berths soon, as I have said, subsided, and all was 
again silent, except the measured jar and clank of 
the machinery. For my own part, although I could not 
hear a voice crying " Macbeth hath murdered sleep," I 
found that I could " sleep no more," pitching and tumbling. 



2 74 



ADVENTURE ON THE MISSISSIPPI 



rolling first on one side and then on the other in my berth in 
vain attempts to enjoy its balmy influence, my imagination 
running wild in all sorts of freaks and fantasies. Now, my 
imagination is of such a perfect devil-me-care character that 
it will, under such circumstances, jump on and ride, without 
bridle or halter, whatever subject first presents itself, and, 
ere I was aware, it was galloping back to a ludicrous scene 
I once witnessed in the cabin of a steamer ascending the 
Mississippi. 

It so happened that I left New Orleans, in the season 
when duels and yellow fever were becoming rife, in one of 
the fastest steamers out of that port. The usually monoto- 
nous voyage up was enlivened with an occasional race with 
some boat ahead, in which all the- spare bacon and hams 
among the freight were thrown into the furnaces to feed the 
boilers, while to save unnecessary trouble the firemen lashed 
down the safety valves. Indeed, in our case we might be 
said to be especially favored, for even in the absence of the 
excitement of the race we could al\va37S recur to the fact that 
we had four hundred kegs of gunpowder, marked "buck- 
wheat," stowed in interesting proximity to the furnace, 
which at any instant might, by sending us among the stars, 
leave it a matter of doubt in our minds whether the boilers did 
or did not give way at exactly four hundred atmospheres. 
When arrived at Natchez, from that interesting suburb 
yclept "Natchez under the hill," to which district the " Five 
Points" is a church swept out and garnished — where the 
bowie-knife and pistol are the arbiters in all disputes, 
w^here a pack of cards is the only Bible, and the demand, 
"Stranger, will you drink or fight?" the first salutation — 
there came on board "an individual" extremely " wolfy 



ADVENTURE OX THE MISSISSIPPI 275 

about the head and shoulders," " a yellow flower of the for- 
est," — in short, a regular " hoosier," his long elf-locks stream- 
ing around his shoulders, and his deep-sunken black e3'es 
cast furtively about him with a sinister expression, indicat- 
ing that " he was considerably troubled with the rascal." 

He was surl}' in his appearance, and dirty, but, as he paid 
his fare for the cabin, cabin accommodations of course he 
was entitled to, and had. The fellow's whereabouts was 
undesirable in the morning, when he was sober, but when 
drunk, in the afternoon, extremel}- annoying to us of the more 
cleanly sort that used our own tooth-brushes ; so much so 
that we endeavored to have him sent forward, but the cap- 
tain said that he could not turn the man out of the cabin 
without some specific charge of offense ; and that, although 
he would not go out of the way of his duty to shun 
consequences, he would rather avoid the chance of having 
a rifle-ball put through him, perhaps some years afterwards, 
from behind a tree or wood-pile along shore, when he 
might least expect it. 

To an argument so forcible, we could not of course 
make repl3\ But when we came to retire at night, and 
the viauvais siijct was ensconced in his berth, o'ercome, if 
not with " wine and wassail," with potations of whisky 
*' pottle deep," the rest of us sinking into calm repose, 
there began to rise from his berth such snores and groans 
and grunts that it appeared as if all the hogs of the last 
litter were there huddled together. By and by, an indi- 
vidual, getting entirely out of patience, sprung from his 
berth, and rushing up and shaking him with all his 

might, consigning him at the same time to all the d Is 

in the infernal regions, insisted that he should stop his 



276 ADVENTURE ON THE MISSISSIPPI 

noise. The man sat upright in his berth, with drunk- 
en gravity, looking at the speaker with lack-lustre eyes, 
essa3nng a reply, but stopped by a hiccough, sunk slowly 
down, and was asleep again before he was well on his side. 
But no sooner had the excited passenger got back to his 
berth, and the rest of us begun to think that the dis- 
turbance was over, than at it again he went, as if in very de- 
fiance ; so that it was soon determined, nem. con., that he 
must go, willingly if he would — " we would not stand upon 
the order of his going" — but go he must. 

The captain was again__apealed to, and by his directions 
the sot was carried out, and placed in one of the berths for- 
ward, where he remained most of the time drunk during the 
rest of the passage. It was not until the last day of our 
voyage that we found we were indebted to a very clever 
fellow, a ventriloquist, who slept in the next berth, for the 
relief. From him came the sounds which appeared to 
emanate from the form of the unfortunate " hoosier." 
There were several professed gamblers on board, who 
were] incessantly engaged in their vocation during the 
day, snatching time only for their meals, and ^many an 
unfortunate wight was relieved of his superfluous cash on 
the passage. One game in particular appeared to be a 
favorite one. It was called " Poker," and not only the 
gentlemen gamblers, in the cabin, but the more common 
sort, forward, were equally absorbed in it. 

There was a fascination about the game which took with 
all. The lower classes and the boatmen, I understood, fre- 
quently staked the coats off their backs upon the game, and 
it is said that there have been instances when the negro fire- 
men, after losing everything, have staked and lost their free- 



ADVENTURE ON THE MISSISSIPPI 277 

dom. Speaking of this game reminds me of an incident that 
occurred on the passage, which at the time strongly touched 
my feelings. 

I was one morning measuring the hurricane deck with 
my usual walk, our boat breasting the turbid expanse 
of waters, her high-pressure engines panting as if with the 
eflbrt ; — now viewing, as we were gliding almost beneath 
them, the huge forest trees trembling on the brink, which, 
ere long, undermined by the current, would fall, and be 
swept onwards to form the dreaded snags and sawyers; and 
now, aroused by the sudden change in our course, as we ran 
across the stream to double a bend or bar ; now watching 
the phalanxes of wild fowl winging their way to the limpid 
pools and splashy lakes of the north, now some gaunt heron 
or gigantic crane slowly and heavily winging his awkward 
flight, while from the loft}^ tree in the adjoining forest, sit- 
ting motionless as death upon a withered branch, the lordly 
eagle, with cruel eye fixed upon his victim, was " biding his 
time," when, throwing himself upon the blue ether, he 
should commence the death-chase, circling higher and high- 
er,'till, descending upon him like a meteor, he would bear 
him, screaming and struggling, to feed his eaglets in their 
mountain eyrie ; now, in imagination, tracing the thousand 
tributary streams, from the frozen regions of the north, from 
mountain grim and prairie green, from the silver lake, where 
the bronzed trapper watched the busy beaver, and the tur- 
bid river where floated the free Indian in his bark canoe, 
tracing the thousand streams which, by this " father of wa- 
ters," send their offering to the ocean through the great 
Gulf of Mexico ; — when my attention was diverted by a 
stout negro man leaning oyer the side of the railing, in 



278 ADVENTURE ON THE MISSISSIPPI 

true negro abandon, watching the ceaseless revolution of 
paddles. As I passed him, I stopped. " Boy," said I (for 
all negroes at the South, old or young, great or small, are 
called boys) ; " boy, to whom do you belong ? " He turned his 
round, fat face, shining with content, and his row of ivory, 
the color of snow, contrasted with his jetty skin, and replied, 
with the utmost simplicity and "sang-froid," " Well, sir, I 
doesn't rightly know. I did belong to Massa John, but he 
and de captain been playin' poker for de last two hours, 
and I can't rightly say who I does belong to now." And 
yet he appeared as happy and contented as any man, white 
or black, on board. The simplicity and naiveti with which 
he spoke of his transfer affected me for the moment much. 



ATRIP THROUGH LONG ISLAND SOUND. 

No. VII. 



NEW LONDON AND STONINGTON. 



B 



UT to return from our long digression. Our steamer 
plowed her course along the Sound with unremit- 
ting speed and steadiness. 



" The air was cut away before, 
And clos-ed from behind." 

Finding that, so far as sleep was concerned, I was " a man 
forbid," I folded my cloak about me, and ascended the deck. 
The night-mist hung damp and heavy on plank and railing, 
and far ahead New London light was shining in the distance. 
This was the port, it will be recollected, where Commodore 
Decatur was blockaded with two American frigates during 
the war by the British squadron. He was in some measure 
reconciled to the spirit of inaction, so galling to his feelings, 
by the reflection that he was chaining down a large force of 
the enemy from doing further mischief. It is said that, as in 
a similar case on the coast of South America, the captain of 
one of the American frigates sent a challenge to the com- 
mander of one of the English squadron, to run out a few 
miles from the port, and meet with equal force in regular 
naval duel, Commodore Decatur endorsing on the back of 



2 8o NEW LONDON AND STONINGTON 

the challenge, that it was with his sanction, pledging his 
honor that no assistance should be afforded the Amer- 
ican frigate, but that she should abide the result of the 
conflict, provided Commodore Hardy would guarantee the 
same on his part. The British Commodore sent in, in 
reply, that he forbade the acceptance of the chal- 
lenge, for, although he felt perfect confidence in 
the braver}^ and skill of his officers and men, he 
could not justify himself to his country in allowing a mere 
spirit of chivalry to prevent his annoying his enemy by 
every means in his power. Hardy was a fine, hearty old 
gentleman, and, Saxon-like, went into his work, because 
it %vas work, and had got to be done. He was quite popular 
with the people along the shores of New England, from the 
fact that he never wantonly injured individuals. He had, 
withal, a large share of humor. At the bombardment of 
Stonington, where, with a couple of old iron eighteens, 
whose cartridges, in default of other flannel, were made 
from the petticoats presented by the women, he saw through 
his glass the boys scampering after the bombs as they fell, 
frequently pulling out the fuses before the}' could explode, 
while a raw countryman in his tow frock was whoaing and 
geeing his oxen among the shot and shells, picking them up 
and throwing them into the cart as a good speculation, with 
as much coolness as if they had been pumpkins in his own 
cornfield. This tickled the old gentleman's fancy immensely, 
and the next day an officer coming in with a flag was directed 
to ask the authorities whether they would sell some shot. 
The " Selectmen," with equal humor and shrewdness, replied 
that, "if the Commodore would send them in some powder, 
they would return him his shot gratis on its receipt." 



NE W L OX DON A ND S TOXIXG TOX 2 8 I 

Long before day, our steamer had performed her devoir, 
and was lying still at the side of the Stonington pier, her 
Eastern passengers transferred to the cars, hurrying with 
even greater velocity over terra-firma than they had been 
on the aqueous element. As the da}^ dawned, we 
that were destined for Newport, were transferred 
with our luggage to the Mohican, a large and 
powerful boat, and were soon again reaching out toward 
the ocean, rising and falling gracefully on its long] swell, 
as we approached that terror to all sea-sick passengers, 
" Point Judith." The white lighthouse shone bright and 
lonelv in the morning sun ; and as we emerged from break- 
fast, the beautiful and peculiar shores of Rhode Island 
opened to our view. The rounded gray rocks, presenting 
an impenetrable barrier to the ocean waves, were covered 
to the very edge with a carpet of verdure green as emerald 
and velvet-like in texture, while flocks of sheep and cattle, 
grouped here and thereupon its surface, afforded lovely pic- 
tuies of still life. The entire absence of trees, save some 
of recent growth, those that had previousl}^ wooded its sur- 
face having been cut down by the armies of the Revolution, 
left the view unobstructed as far as the eye could roam, and 
the exquisite clearness of the atmosphere gave the vault 
above the hue of the sapphire. As we ran up through the 
outer roads, the surf was breaking high upon that most dan- 
gerous ridge of rocks, known by many a tale of disaster as 
*' Brenton's Reef," on our right ; while the shores of Con- 
necticut, with the "Dumplings," masses of rude rock seamed 
and gashed by the wear of the elements for ages, were 
on our left — the summit of one of the latter surmounted 
with the alread}' crumbling ruins of a circular fortress 



b 



282 NEW LONDON AND STONINGTON 

from which it was intended in the last war to furnish 
John Bull with a supply hot enough of that proverbially 
indigestible food. 

As we passed along up the channel, the fishermen in 
their fishing-boats lazily looked over their shoulders at us, 
as they pulled in their tautog and bass (their light shallops 
rising and falling gently in the long swell), enjoying a 
freedom from care and a pleasure in existence to which 
the lordly nabob is a stranger. The magnificent fortifica- 
tion which, when completed, will mount five hundred 
cannon, was soon before us, and, shooting into the inner 
harbor, we were ere long ensconced with bag and bag- 
gage, rolling in a comfortable coach up the long wharf, 
into the ancient and unique town of Newport. 



THE BLIND OFFICER. 



[" The hand of the reaper 

Takes the ears that are hoary, 
But the voice of the weeper 
Wails manhood in glory."] 

A FEW years since might occasionally be met, prome- 
nading Broadway, in the city of New York, a man 
of fine appearance, in the prime of life, of remarkably 
erect and soldierlike carriage (usually clad in military un- 
dress, his eyes covered with large green glasses), led by a 
young lad, or supported on the arm of a friend, whose mili- 
tary port and handsome person, aside from the peculiar 
bearing of a blind man, almost necessarily attracted the at- 
tention of the passer-by. We allude to the late Captain 
Henry W. Kenned}^ and in so doing know that we shall re- 
vive his memory in the recollection of many warm friends, 
who, while they recall his generous and noble qualities, will 
sigh at his premature withdrawal from the stage of lile. 
To those friends, the following brief sketch of his career 
may not be uninteresting. 

He was born in Pennsylvania, and with his parents re- 
moved during his infancy to the West Indies, where his 
earlier days were passed. Returning to his country while 
yet in his boyhood, he was deprived by death of their pro- 
tection, and left alone in the world without a single blood 
relation. At the age of nineteen he determined to adopt 



284 THE BLIND OFFICER 

the military profession, and having received a commission 
as lieutenant in the United States marine corps, soon after 
sailed in a frigate for the Mediterranean, where he expected 
to take part in the war with the Barbary powers ; but be- 
fore he arrived on the field of contest, the pride of the 
Ottomite had been humbled, and the stars and stripes floated 
over the crimson flag of the corsair states, Tripoli, Tunis, 
Algiers and Morocco having all been forced to uncondition- 
al submission. Returning to the United States, he found 
the enthusiasm of the country awakened by the Patriot 
revolution in South America, and, impatient of the dullness 
and inactivity of peace, with a number of other adventurous 
spirits resigned his commission, embraced their cause, 
and, accepting highly flattering propositions from one of the 
distinguished leaders, sailed, with the rank of captain, for 
that country. His cool judgment and intrepidity soon made 
him conspicuous, and it was not long before he received, 
from his desperate and adventurous courage, the sobriquet 
of the '•'■Gallo Ingles,'' or ''English Gajuc-cock,'" the people of 
that country not making any distinction between the North 
Americans and the English, deeming all who spoke the lan- 
guage Britons. He received accession of rank, and was 
engaged in a number of actions, and his adventures and 
hair-breadth escapes, in the battles with the Spaniards and 
Royalist party, would almost afford material for a volume 
of romance. 

The appearance of the wild native cavalr}' which he com- 
manded was picturesque in the extreme. His particular 
corps was clad in a costume made of tiger-skins, their hel- 
mets representing the head of the ferocious animal-^a silk 
handkerchief, twisted so tightly as to turn the edge of a 



THE BLIND OFFICER 285 

saber, knotted round their necks. Dashing in at the head 
of these wild warriors, he would lead them into the thickest 
of the fight, cheering them on by his voice, " but rarely," to 
use his own words, *' taking any part in the butchery, other 
than to ward off the attacks made personally upon himself." 
The character of the warfare partook of that ferocity which 
appears to have pertained always to the Spanish arms, form- 
ing such an anomaly to their lofty, high-minded, and gener- 
ous qualities; and the heart sickens at the savage fury that, 
under the sanction of the sacred garb of contest for liberty, 
prevailed in their conflicts. 

Neither party, as a general rule, gave or received quar- 
ter, and it was at the risk of his own life that he, in several 
instances, succeeded in saving the lives of the vanquished. In 
one case, a Spanish cadet, of noble family, besought his pro- 
tection on the battle-field, and, reckless of the danger of 
being shot down by his own excited soldiery, he mounted 
the young officer behind him, and, galloping out of the ac- 
tion, conveyed him to a place of security. But perhaps the 
following incident, one of many related by him, may give a 
more distinct idea of the character of the warfare waged 
upon that unhappy soil. In an action where, after very severe 
fighting, the Patriot party had been successful, and the Span- 
ish defeated, his attention was attracted by an isolated 
group, where a very powerful negro soldier w^as defending 
himself with his musket against the attack of a half-dozen 
Patriot dragoons, who were dashing like hawks around him, 
endeavoring to cut him down with their sabei-s. The black 
knew that his case was hopeless, and was apparently deter- 
mined to sell his life at as dear a rate as possible. The 
swords of the troopers occasionally took effect, causing 



2 86 THE BLIND OFFICER 

deep gashes and flesh-wounds, from which the blood 
streamed profusely ; but the thick wool of his head had the 
same effect as the hair-crests on the helmets of our cav- 
alry, turning the edge of their sabers, which glanced off, 
inflicting comparatively slight wounds. The contest con- 
tinued for some time, the negro bleeding from twenty 
gashes, while Captain K. was obliged to remain a mute 
spectator of the scene, any attempt at his rescue being 
almost equivalent to his own destruction. At length a 
Patriot ofihcer, deeming it a mercy to put him out of 
pain, put spurs to his horse, and, galloping in, gave him the 
coup de grace, ending the barbarous and unequal combat. 

After four years of hardship, adventure, and battle, now 
victor and now vanquished, now stimulated by the cause 
of freedom and now disgusted by the atrocities of savage 
warfare, the recital of which would fill a volume (which 
might perhaps be useful to those who, ignorant of its 
horrors, are so ready to throw down the gauntlet and rush 
into the fell arena), he was severely wounded and his 
military career terminated on the plains of Cordova. 
The party of which he was the leader had been victo- 
rious, and the enemy were in full retreat. Halting his 
horse for a moment, he had loosened the rein, and was 
bending forward for some purpose on his neck, when he 
found himself enveloped in utter darkness. He clapped 
his hand to his head, supposing that he had been struck by 
a ball across the forehead, and that the blood flowing from 
the wound had thus deprived him of sight. 

" His clotted locks he backward threw, 
Across his brow his hand he drew. 
From blood and mist to clear his sight." 



THE BLIXD OFFICER 287 

But the next instant betrayed to him too well his dreadful 
loss. The blessed light of the sun was thenceforth to be to 
him a stranger; the green fields, the blue skies, '" the j)lumed 
troop" with "all the pride, the pomp and circumstance of war," 
were to be forever shut out from him ; the smile of friend- 
shij), the scowl of enmit)', to be alike unheeded ; youtii's 
glowing hopes were quenched — "Othello's occupation 
gone ! " 

A spent ball, entering his left eye, had torn it from its 
socket, passed through the bones of his nose, and buried 
itself in the right orbit, distorting the eye and destrovino- 
its vision forever. A soldier who was near him at the time 
said that he saw him eject the ball from his mouth Avith the 
blood, and although Drs. Hosack, Rogers, and Mott gave it 
as their opinions, after his return to this country, that the 
b:ill was still in the right orbit, behind the eye, he was 
incredulous as to the fact. (The risk of inflammation attend- 
ing the operation, with the exceeding uncertainty and im- 
probability of any benefit being derived, prevented the trial 
suggested by those gentlemen to ascertain it.) With his 
usual self-collectedness, he sent for the officer next in com- 
mand, and gave him the conduct of his party and his in- 
structions ; but, in a few days after, they were in their turn 
defeated, and most of the officers made prisoners bv the 
Spaniards, Captain Kennedy among the number, helpless 
from his wounds. They were subsequently conveved to 
Callao, and imprisoned in one of the castles, from which 
every few days some were marched out and shot. 

While imprisoned, among others who took an interest in 
him was the officer in command of the castle. His fate 
hung some time in suspense, and his request of the officer 



2 88 THE BLIND OFFICER 

was not a little characteristic of the man. " I beg," said he, 
" that when my time comes I may not be shot like a dog in 
the castle ditch, but that I may be allowed to march out 
and meet my fate like a soldier and a man." This the offi- 
cer ^promised, and not long after his prison doors were 
opened, and, preceded by a band of music and a military 
guard, he was conducted out into the public //^'^^ for execu- 
tion. A regiment, forming three sides of a hollow square, 
was drawn up, and, standing in the center with a bandage 
tied around his eyes (to him useless precaution), he awaited 
his fate. He heard the voice of the officer, and step of the 
firing party as they marched out from the ranks ; he heard 
their approach and halt within a few paces, the orders dis- 
tinctly given, the jar of the muskets as they came to an aim, 
and the next moment expected to be in eternity, when the 
officer read from a paper in his hand that, in consideration 
of the blindness of the prisoner, and his inabilit}- to do any 
further injury to the Royal cause, the Governor had been 
pleased to pardon him. He had so made up his mind to his 
fate, and his situation was so utterly desolate, that, to use 
his own words, he "received the information without emo- 
tion, and without the quickening of a pulse." 

Turned thus adrift, without friends, or mone}', or shelter, 
his situation was truly deplorable ; and if it had not been 
for the assistance afforded by a young Spanish girl, whose 
compassion was aroused for him, and other casual charities, 
he must have perished of want. One morning, standing in 
the street, his ear was struck by a voice which appeared 
familiar, and at a venture he called to the passer, "•Ramsay, 
is that you?" "My heavens! Kennedy, \s that you f after 
a moment's surprise, replied the person addressed; ard 



THE BLIXD OFFICER 



289 



in another moment he was in the embrace of his friend, 
Lieutenant Ramsay, of the U. S. Ship Constellation. The 
frigate had arrived in the bay; and in a few hours, clothed, 
and fully provided for, he was welcomed by his brother 
officers, and received into the ward-room mess. He re- 
mained some time on board the frigate, and in her returned 
to the United States. Arriving here, the marine corps took 
their old comrade under their protection, until government 
provided for his wants, by appointing him sutler at the 
Brooklyn Navy Yard, an office which he could perform by 
deputy. 

His firm and patient deportment, his cheerful and uncom- 
plaining disposition, and his high-minded and generous sen- 
timents, attracted around him a crowd of admiring friends, 
among whom were many of the more gentle sex, whose 
sympathies were strongly excited by his situation. As was 
said in the earlier part of this sketch, he was without a rela- 
tive on the earth, but his general information, and powers of 
entertainment, drew around him many to supply their place, 
and his rooms were the regular lounge of his brother offi- 
cers and other friends (among whom were many men of 
talent and standing), who always found him in uniform good 
humor and cheerfulness. He never alluded to the calamity 
which had befallen him, unless questioned upon the subject, 
and then spoke of it with as much coolness and equanimity 
as if he had no particular interest in the affair. The ball, a 
heavy ounce musket ball, was taken, after his death, from the 
socket of the eye, in whose orbit it had been so long buried, 
confirming the opinion of the surgeons. Singular as it may 
seem, it gave him no uneasiness, but if it had gone the six- 
teenth part of an inch further, he must have been instantly 



290 THE BLIND OFFICER 

killed, when he received the wound on the plains of Cor- 
dova. 

But his term of life was measured, and he was not des- 
tined to reach the three score years and ten of man's alloted 
pilgrimage. After having been stationed about two years 
at the navy yard, a complaint of the heart, an enlargement 
and ossification set in, and after six or eight months of most 
intense and agonizing suffering, which he bore with his 
characteristic fortitude, and in the intervals of the paroxysms 
of which his voice was heard, with the same kindness and 
concern, in inquiries for the interests of his friends, he grad- 
ually sank and expired, aged thirty-two years. Though his 
pillow was smoothed by no wife, nor mother, nor sister, 
there were not wantmg warm friends to bend over his bed- 
side and soothe him in the hour of his last sad journey ; and 
as they stood around him, and beheld the manly form, from 
which the spirit defeated had fled, lying cold and still, re- 
leased from its conflict with pain and agony, the counten- 
ance tranquil as was its wont, and calm, they could not but 
feel that, "after life's fitful fever, he slept zveliy 

It was on the afternoon of Sunday, the day following his 
death, that a coffin, shrouded in the American flag, borne 
upon the shoulders of soldiers, preceded by the guard of 
marines, with arms reversed, and followed by a long pro- 
cession of sailors and citizens, passed from the marine bar- 
racks, the instruments of music wailing a mournful dirge, 
amid the continuous and melancholy roll of the muffled 
drums, as it slowly and solemnly moved upon its journey 
along the avenue to the Episcopal cemetery. As it pro- 
ceeded, numbers of sympathizing spectators joined and fol- 
lowed in the procession, and the soft yellow rays of a de- 



THE BLIXD OFFICER 29 I 

dining autumnal sun appeared to throw, as if in unison, a 
sad and congenial light upon the scene. Arrived at the gate 
of the cemetery, the guard halted and opened to the right 
and left, their hands clasped on the reversed butts of their 
muskets, the muzzles of which rested at their feet, their 
bronzed and weather-beaten countenances bent sorrowfully 
upon the ground, and preceded by the chaplain, wrapped in 
its country's flag, all that remained of the gallant soldier 
passed forward to its final resting-place. The group collected 
around the grave, and the coffin was lowered and rested upon 
the bottom of the sepulchre. The beautiful and consoling 
service of the church was said, and many a heart among the 
mourners responded to the hollow jar of the sods as they 
fell upon the coffin lid. " Ashes to ashes" — and the religious 
services were ended. The crowd, with uncovered heads, 
still stood looking wistfully and mournfully into the narrow 
pit, when the silence was broken by the stern '^Forward!'' 
of the officer, and the measured heavy tramp of the soldiers 
of the guard was heard rustling and pressing down the long 
grass as they approached. The crowd opened, and the 
swarthy veterans halted and stood statue-like in double 
ranks beside the grave. A momentary clang of arms, the 
same voice was heard, and a sheet of flame, followed by the 
sudden peal of musketry, glanced over the soldier's sepulchre. 
Another volley, and another, echoed among the silent 
chambers of the dead, and their stern farewell was said. The 
white smoke wreathed mournfully, and hung above the mon- 
uments as if reluctant to take its departure, when the col- 
umn wheeled, and again was heard their heavy tramp re- 
treating through the hollow graves to the outlet of the 
cemetery. A few moments more, and we saw the beams 



292 



THE BLIND OFFICER 



of the setting sun dancing around their bayonets, as with 
quick step they were returning to their quarters. The 
crowd and mourners slowly retired, and on the narrow 
mound then left alone, now lies a marble tablet inscribed, 
" Here rest the remains of Henry W. Kennedy.'" 



GREENWOOD CEMETERY. 



WHERE, THEN, is DEATH ? — and my own voice startled 
me from my reverie, as, leaning on my saddle-bow 
on the summit of an elevation in the Greenwood 
Cemetery, I asked : Where, then, is death ? The golden sun of 
a summer's afternoon was streaming o'er the undulating hills 
of Staten Island, lighting more brilliantly the snow-white 
villas and emerald lawns ; the Lazaretto, its fleet gay with the 
flags of all the nations, was nestling like a fairy city at its 
feet ; the noble bay before me was one great, polished mirror, 
motionless vessels, with white sails and drooping pennants, 
resting on its surface like souls upon the ocean of eternity, 
and everything around was bright, and still, and beautiful, 
as I asked myself the question : Where, then, is death ? 

The islands with their military works lay calm and 
motionless upon the waters ; the grim artillery, like sleeping 
tigers, crouched upon the ramparts and the castle's walls, 
but the glistening of the sentry's polished musket, and the 
sudden, clamorous roll of drums, showed me that — not there 
was death. 

1 turned. The great, fierce city, extending as far as eye 
could reach, the sky fretted with her turrets and her spires, 
her thousand smokes rising and mingling with the o'erhang- 
ing clouds, as she rose above her bed of waters, with hoarse, 
continuous roar, cried to me: ^^ Look not here, not here, for 
death ! " Her sister city, with her towers and cupolas — her 



294 GREENWOOD CEMETERY 

grassy esplanades surmounted with verdant trees and far- 
extending colonnades embowered in shrubbery — from her 
high terraced walls, re-echoed the hollow roar : " Not Jiere 
for death ! " 

The island lay extended far before me, its farms and 
towns, its modest spires, its granaries, its verdant meadow^s, 
iis rich cultivated fields, its woods, its lawns, all wrapped in 
silence ; but still its whisper softly reached me : " Not here; 
not Jure, is death ! " E'en the great, distant ocean, closed 
only from my view by the far-reaching horizon, in sullen, 
continuous murmurs moaned : " Not here is death ! " 

Where, then, I cried — ivhere, tJien, is death ? I looked 
above me, and the blue vault hung pure and motionless ; 
light, fleecy clouds, like angels on their journeys, alone rest- 
ing on its cerulean tint ; around, the evening breeze played 
calm and gently, and beneath, the flowers and leaves were 
quivering with delight, while the incessant hum of insect 
life arising from the earth with ceaseless voice still cried : 
" No, no; not Jiere is death ! " 

Ah I said I ; this beautiful world shall be forever, and 
there is — there is no death ; but, even as I spoke a warning 
voice struck with deep solemnity upon my startled ear: 
" Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live, 
and is full of misery. He cometh up and is cut down like a 
flower ; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth 
in one stay." And as I turned, the funeral procession, its 
minister and its mourners, passed onward in their journey 
with the silent dead. 

I looked after the retiring group, and again from beyond 
the coppice which intervened, heard rising in the same deep, 
solemn tones : " Write, from henceforth, blessed are the 



GREENWOOD CEMETERY 295 

dead who die in the Lord; even sosaith the Spirit, for they 
rest from their labors." And my soul cowered within itself 
like a guilty thing, as it said, Amen ! 

I looked again upon the scene before me and sighed ; 
e'en such is human reason. That gorgeous sun shall set, the 
gay villas and verdant lawns, the crowded shipping, the 
beautiful bay with all that rest upon its bosom, shall soon be 
wrapped in darkness, the gleaming watch-light disappear from 
yon tall battlement, as the bugle sounds its warning note, 
the great fierce city be stilled in silence, while the beating 
hearts within her midnight shroud, like seconds, answer her 
tolling bells upon the dial of eternity, and the insect myriads, 
the flowers and leaves, ay ! the great heavens themselves, 
shall from the darkness cry, " This is the portraiiiire of 
death!'' — for the darkness and the silence are all that man 
can realize of death. 

The hardy Northman with trembling finger points to the 
mouldering framework of humanity, and shudders as he 
cries, "■ Lo ! there is death!'' and the polished Greek smiles 
delightedly on the faultless statue of the lovely woman with 
the infant sleeping on her breast, as he also cries, " Lo ! there 
is death ! " yet both alike, with reverence, do lay their final 
offering before his gloomy shrine. The squalid Esquimaux- 
scoops out the cavern in the never-melting snows, for the 
frozen form whose conflicts with the grizzly bear and shud- 
dering cold are done ; and the mild Hindoo, with affection, 
feeds the funeral pyre, and as the fragrant column does arise, 
cries, "Soul of my brother — immortal soul, ascend!" The 
red man, in the far distant prairie's lonely wilds, pillows the 
head of the warrior-chief upon his slain desert steed within 
its mound, while the bronzed pioneer, throwing aside his axe 



296 GREENWOOD CEMETERY 

and rifle, hastily dashes away the tear as he inhumes beneath 
its flowery bed his scar-marked comrade's form. 

The secluded village hamlet, with pious care, within the 
quiet grove, encloses a resting-place for its silent few, dis- 
appearing at long intervals ; and here those great living 
cities have chosen this silent city for their dead ; falling like 
the forest leaves in autumn. 

For the great army, who must, ere long, march forth to 
ground their arms before the grim and ghastly Conqueror, 
'twere difficult to find more beautiful and lovely resting- 
place. E'en the sad mourner lingers as he beholds its broad 
and lovely lawns, stretched out in calm serenity before him ; 
its sylvan waters in their glassy stillness ; its antique elms, 
arching with extended branches the long, secluded lanes ; 
its deep, romantic glens ; its rolling mounds, and all its 
varied scenery, ere with a softened sadness he turns him to 
his desolate and melancholy home. Spirits of our departed 
ones! we know that you have gone forth from your human 
habitations, and that we shall behold your loved forms no 
more forever ; therefore will we lay 3^our deserted temples 
within this consecrated ground, and, in imagination, fondly 
see you sleeping still in tranquility beneath its green and 
silent sward ! 

But lo ! where upon the broad and verdant lawn, the 
loose clods and dark black mould heaped carelessly aside, 
the narrow pit awaits, ere it close again from light, its tenant 
in his dark and narrow house. The sorrowing group col- 
lect around, and the pall slowly drawn aside, one moment 
more exhibits to the loved ones the pallid countenance of 
him about to be hidden from their sight forever. The weep- 
ing widow, in her dark habiliments, leans upon the arm of 



GREENWOOD CEMETERY 207 

the stern, sad brother, her little ones clinging to her raiment 
in mingled awe and admiration of the scene before them. 
"Ashes to ashes," she writhes in anguish, as the heavy clods 
fall with hollow, unpitying jar upon the coffin lid — how like 
a lifeless thing she hangs upon the supporting arm in which 
her countenance is buried in agony unutterable; and see the 
little ones, their faces streaming with wondering tears, clasp- 
ing her hands ; how in happy ignorance, they innocently, 
with fond endearing names, still call upon him to arise. 

But the narrow grave is filled, the mourning group has 
gone, the evening shadows fall, the declining sun sinks be- 
neath his gorgeous bed in the horizon, and in the thickening 
twilight the dead lies in his mound — alone. The night ad- 
vances, the stars arise, and the joyous constellations roll 
high onward in their majestic journeys in the o'erhanging 
heavens, but beneath, the tenant of the fresh-filled grave lies 
motionless and still. The morning sun appears, the dew, 
like diamonds, glitters on every leaf and blade of grass, the 
birds joyously carol, and the merry lark, upon the very 
mound itself, sends forth his cheerful note ; but all is hushed, 
in silence, to the tenant who in his unbroken slumber sleeps 
within. The Autumn comes, and the falling leaves whirl 
withered from the tree-tops, and rustle in the wind ; the 
Winter, and the smooth broad plain lies covered with its 
pure and spotless cloak of driven snow, and the lowly 
mound is hid from sight, and shows not in the broad mid- 
day sun, nor e'en at midnight, when the silver moon sailing 
onward in her chaste journey turns the icicles into glittering 
gems on the o'erhanging branches as they bend protectingly 
towards it. The Spring breathes warmly, and the little 
mound lies green again ; and now the mother, bending o'er 



298 GREENWOOD CEMETERY 

it, lifts the rose and twines the myrtle, while the little ones 
in joyous glee from the surrounding meadows bring wild 
flowers and scatter them in unison upon its borders. Then, 
were consciousness within, would the glad tenant smile. 

But let him, whose tears as yet fall not for any dear one 
beneath its sod, ascend again with me the Mount, and with 
retrospective gaze behold the living drama which has passed 
before it. The great world around, the stage, lies still the 
same ; but the actors all have passed onward to their final 
rest. Into the still gleaming past bend your attentive gaze. 
Lo ! the features of the scenery are still the same ; the bay's 
unruffled bosom, and the islands; but no sail now floats 
upon its surface ; no gilded spires in the distance loom, nor 
does the busy hum of man reach us, as listening we stand ; 
nought we see but the far forest, covering the main and 
islands, even to the waters. The coward wolf howls in 
yon distant glen ; the partridge drums upon the tree-top ; 
and the graceful deer, e'en at our sides, browse in conscious 
safety. Yon light dot moving upon the water ? — 'tis the 
painted Indian paddling his canoe. Yon smoke curling on 
the shore beneath us ? — it is the Indian's wigwam. The 
joyous laugh arising among the trees ? — it is his squaw and 
black-eyed children ; the Indian reigns the lord, reigns free 
and uncontrolled. 

But look again : upon the water floats a huge and clumsy 
galliot, its gay and gaudy streamers flaunting in the breeze ; 
how the poor savages congregated on yonder point gaze in 
wonder as it passes, sure 'tis the Great Spirit ; and the quaint 
figure with the plumed hat, and scarlet hose glistening with 
countless buttons, on its poop ; some demi-god ! and as she 
onward moves, behold the weather-worn seamen's faces in 



GREENWOOD CEMETERY 



299 



I 



her rigging, how anxiously they return the gaze. The forest 
children muster courage; they follow in their light canoes. 
The galliot nears the Manahattoes ; they ascend her sides: 
hawks-bills, and rings, and beads, and the hot strong drink 
are theirs ; their land — it is the white man's. See with what 



I 




I 



confidence he ensconces himself upon the island's borders. 
In his grasp he has the fish, the furs, the game — the poor 
confiding Indian ijives him all. Lo I the embrvo city's 
fixed ! 

But see ! Is that the Dutch boor's cabin at our feet? Is 
that the Indian seated on the threshold, while the Dutch- 
man lolls lazily within? Where, where then is the Indian's 
wi<rwam? Gone I 



JOO 



GREENWOOD CEMETERY 



Look up again : a stately fleet moves o'er the bay, in line 
of battle drawn ; the military music loudly sounds, dark 
cannon frown from within the gaping ports, and crews with 
lighted matches stand prepared ; they near the Manahattoes, 
and — and — the Orange flag descends ; the Dragon and St. 
George floats from the flag-staff o'er the little town. Who 
is the fair-haired man that drinks with the Dutchman at his 
cottage door, while the poor Indian stands submissively 
aside? " It is the Briton." I hear the laugh of youth ; sure 
'tis the Indian's black-eyed brood? "'tis the Englishman's 
yellow-haired, blue-eyed children." Alas ! alas ! poor forest 
wanderer ; nor squaw, nor child, nor wigwam, shall here be 
more for thee. Farewell, farewell. 




The little town swells to a goodly city; the forests fall 
around ; the farms stretch out their borders ; wains creek 
and groan with harvest wealth ; lordly shipping floats on 



GREENWOOD CEMETERY 3OI 

the rivers; the fair haired race increase; roads mark the 
country, and the deer and game, scared, fly the haunts of 
men. Hah ! the same Hag floats not at the Manahattoes I 
now, 'tis Stars and Stripes. See ! crowding across the 
river, men in dark masses, cannon, muniments of war, in 
boats, on rafts, in desperate haste. Trenches and ramparts 
creep like serpents on the earth ; horsemen scour the coun- 
try, divisions, regiments, take position, and stalwart yeomen 
hurrying forward, join in the ranks of Libert}^ ! Hear I hear 
the wild confusion, the jar of wheels, the harsh shrill shriek 
of trumpets and the incessant roll of drums, the rattling mus- 
ketry, the sudden blaze and boom of cannon ; it is the roar 
of battle — it is the battle field. Hear ! hear the distant cry, 
" St. George and merry England." " Our Country and 
Liberty." Ah ! o'er this very ground the conflict passes. 
See ! the vengeful Briton prostrate falls beneath the deadly 
rifle, while the yeoman masses fade beneath the howling 
cannon shot; and hark! how from amid the sulphurous 
cloud the wild " hurrah " drowns e'en the dread artillery. 

The smoke clouds lazily creep from off the surface, the 
battle's o'er, and the red-cross banner floats again upon the 
island of Manahattoes, and now again the Stars and Stripes 
stream gently in the breeze. 

The past is gone, the future stands before us. Here on 
this spot, once rife with death, yonder cities shall lay their 
slain for centuries to come — their slain, falling in the awful 
contest with the stern warrior, against whom human strength 
is nought, and human conflict vain. Years shall sweep on in 
steady tide, and these broad fields be whitened with countless 
sepulchres ; the mounds, covered with graves where affection 
still shall plant the flower and trail the vine. In the deep 



^02 GREENWOOD CEMETERY 

valleys, and romantic glens, to receive their ne'er returning- 
tenants, the sculptured vaults still shall roll ope their mar 
ble fronts, and on this spot, the stately column shooting high 
in air; to future generations tell, the bloody story of the 
battle field. 

All here shall rest; the old man, his silver hairs in quiet, 
and the wailing babe in sweet repose ; the strong from 
fierce conflict with fiery disease, and bowing submissively, 
the poor pallid invalid, the old, the young, the strong, the 
beautiful, all here shall rest in deep and motionless repose. 

May that Being, Infinite and Glorious — Unseen — shroud- 
ed from our vision in the vast and awful mists of immeasur- 
able Eternity ! Creator ! throned in splendor inconceivable, 
mid millions and countless myriads of worlds, which still 
rushing into being at his thought, course their majestic cir- 
cles, chiming in obedient grandeur glorious hymns of praise; 
God of Wisdom, that hast caused the ethereal spark to mo- 
mentarily light frail tenements of clay ; grant, that in the 
terrors of final dissolution, we may meet the splendor of 
the opening Heavens with steadfast gaze, and relying on his 
love, in ecstasy, still cry — Where — Where, then is 
Death? 



APPENDIX. 



CONTENTS. 

Note to the Resurrectionists. — Ghost in the Grave Yard. 
" " Old Kennedy, No. i.— Lieutenant Somers. 
" " Old Kennedy, No. III.—" The Parting Blessing." 
' " Old Kennedy, No. IV.— Explosion at Craney Island. 
" " Greenwood Cemetery. 

" " Night Attack on Fort Erie — The Ofificer's Saber. 
" " Lundy's Lane — Rainbow of the Cataract. 

The Day after the Battle. 

The two Sergeants. 

Death of Captain Hull. 

Scott's Brigade. 

Death of Captain Spencer. 
" " Lake George. — Attack on Fort Ticonderoga. 
*' " Bass Fishing. — Crew of the Essex frigate. 

Mutiny on board the Essex. 
" " Long Island Sound. — New England Traditions. 



APPENDIX. 



Note to the Resjirrcctionists. — GhoST IN THE GRAVE 
Yard. — In New-England most of the burying-grounds, as 
they are called, are at some distance from the villages, and 
generally neglected and rude in their appearance, frequently 
overgrown with wild, dank weeds, and surrounded by 
rough stone walls. Dr. W., a physician, whose extensive 
practice gave him a large circuit of country to ride over, re- 
lates that returning late one night from visiting a patient 
who was dangerously ill, his attention was attracted by a 
human figure clad in white, perched upon the top of the 
stone wall of one of these rustic cemeteries. The moon was 
shining cold and clear, and he drew up his horse for a 
moment and gazed steadily at the object, supposing that he 
was laboring under an optical illusion, but it remained 
immoveable and he was convinced, however singular the 
position and the hour, that his eyesight had not deceived 
him. Being a man of strong nerves, he determined to 
examine it, whether human or supernatural, more closely, 
and leaping his horse up the bank of the road he proceeded 
along the side of the fence toward the object. It remained 
perfectly motionless until he came opposite and within a 
few feet, when it vanished from the fence, and in another 
instant, with a piercing shriek, was clinging round his neck 
upon the horse. This was too much, for even the Doctor's 
philosophy, and relieving himself with a violent exertion 



3IO APPENDIX 

from the grasp, he flung the figure from him, and putting 
spurs to his horse galloped into the village at full speed 
a torrent of ghostly lore and diablerie pouring through 
his mind as he dashed along. Arousing the occupants of 
the nearest house, they returned to the scene of the adven- 
ture, where they found the object of his terror — a poor 
female maniac, who had escaped from confinement in a 
neighboring alms-house, wandering among the tombs. 



Note to Old Kennedy, No. I. — Capt. Somers.* — The name 
of Somers, the twin brother in arms of Decatur, shines 
brightly on the History of American Naval Warfare; and 
the last desperate action which terminated his short and 
brilliant career with his life, is stamped in colors so indeli- 
ble, that nothing but the destroying finger of Time can 
efface it from its pages. After severe and continued fight- 
ing before Tripoli, the Turkish flotilla withdrew from the 
mole, and could not be induced to venture themselves 
beyond the guns of the Tripolitan Battery. The ketch 
Intrepid was fitted out as a fire-ship, filled to the decks with 
barrels of gunpowder, shells, pitch, and other combustible 
materials ; and Capt. Somers, with a volunteer crew, under- 
took the hazardous, almost desperate, task, of navigating 
her, in the darkness of night into the middle of the Turkish 
flotilla, when the train was to be fired, and they were 
to make their escape as they best could in her boats. 

Lieutenants Wadsworth and Israel were the only officers 

* The U. S. Brig Somers, in which a daring mutiny was sup- 
pressed by the prompt and decided measures of Lt. Alexander 
Slidell McKenzie, was named after this hero of the Tripolitan war. 



APPENDIX 



311 



allowed to join the expedition, which was comprised of a 
small crew of picked men. The Intrepid was escorted as far 
as was prudent by three vessels of the squadron, who hove 
to, to avoid suspicion, and to be ready to pick up the boats 
upon their return : the Constitution, under easy sail in the 
offing. 

Many a brave heart could almost hear its own pulsations 
in those vessels, as she became more and more indistinct, 
and gradually disappeared in the distance. They watched 
for some time with intense anxiety, when a heavy cannonade 
was opened from the Turkish batteries, which, by its flashes, 
discovered the ketch determinedly progressing on her 
deadly errand. She was slowly and surely making for the 
entrance of the mole, when the whole atmosphere suddenly 
blazed as if into open day ; the mast with all its sails 
shot high up in the air; shells whizzed, rocket like, ex- 
ploding in every direction ; a deafening roar followed and 
all sunk again into the deepest pitchy darkness. The Amer- 
icans waited, and waited, in anxious, at last sickening, sus- 
pense. Their companions came not, the hours rolled on ; 
no boat hailed, no oar splashed in the surrounding darkness. 
The East grew grey with the dawn, the sun shone brightly 
above the horizon, nought but a few shattered vessels lying 
near the shore, the flotilla, the batteries, and the minarets of 
Tripoli, gilded by the morning sunbeams, met their gaze. 
Those noble spirits had written their history. Whether 
consigned to eternity by a shot of the enemy, prematurely 
exploding the magazine, or from the firing of the train by 
their own hands, must always remain untold and unknown. 

Note to Old Kennedy, No. III. — "The PARTING BLESS- 
ING." — An officer of the Lawrence engaged in this desperate 



3 I 2 APPENDIX 

action informed the writer that he observed, in the latter 
part of the battle, the captain of one of the guns, who was a 
perfect sailor, and remarkable for his neatness and fine per- 
sonal appearance, ineffectually endeavoring to work his gun 
himself, after all its crew had fallen. He was badly wounded 
by a grape shot in the leg; and although in that situation, 
he was supporting himself on the other, while he struggled 
at the tackle to bring the piece to bear. The officer told 
him that he had better leave the gun, and join one of 
the others, or, as he was badly wounded, go below. " No, 
no, sir," said the brave tar ; " I've loaded her, and if I've got 
to go below, it sha'n't be before I give 'em a parting blessing! " 
The officer then himself assisted him in running the gun out 
of the port. The sailor, taking a good and deliberate aim, 
discharged her into the British ship, and then dragged 
himself down to the cockpit, fully satisfied with the parting 
compliment that he had paid the enemy. General Jackson, 
during his administration, granted the man a pension. 



Note to Old Kennedy, No. IV. — EXPLOSION AT Craney 
Island. — One of the oldest of the surgeons now in the navy, 
who was present when the British were defeated in their 
attempt to cut out the Constellation at Craney Island, in 
Hampton Roads, in the last war, relates the following 
anecdote. 

The fire of the Americans was so heavy that the British 
flotilla was soon obliged to retire, a number of their boats 
having been disabled by the cannon shot — one, in particular, 
having been cut in two, sunk, leaving the men struggling in 
the water for their lives. It was thought that it contained 



APPENDIX 



J^O 



an officer of rank, as the other boats hurried to her assist- 
ance, and evinced much agitation until the individual alluded 
to was saved. But to let the doctor tell his own story : — 

" Well, they retreated, and we made prisoners of those 
whose boats having been cut up, were struggling in the 
water. Among others, there was a fine looking fellow, a 
petty officer, who had been wounded by the same shot that 
had sunk the boat; so I got him up to the hospital-tent, and 
cut off his leg above the knee, and having made him com- 
fortable, (!) walked out upon the beach, with my assistant, 
for a stroll. We had not gone far, when we were both 
thrown upon our backs by a violent shock, which moment- 
arily stunned us. On recovering ourselves, we observed 
the air filled with cotton, descending like feathers. We did 
not know how to account for the phenomenon, till, advanc- 
ing some distance farther, we found a soldier lying appar- 
ently dead, with his musket by his side. I stooped down, 
and found that the man was wounded in the head, a splinter 
having lodged just over the temple. As I drew out the 
splinter, he raised himself, and stared stupidly about him. 
I asked him what he was doing there ? ' I'm standing ground 
over the tent, sir,' he replied. What tent? ' Why, sir, the 
tent that had the gunpowder in it"' How came it to blow 
up ? — what set it on fire? ' I don't know, sir.' Did nobody 
come along this way ? * Yes, sir ; a man came along with a 
cigar in his mouth, and asked if he might go in out of the 
sun; I told him, yes I — and he went in and sat himself down 
— and that is the last I recollect, until I found you standing 
over me here.' Upon going a few hundred feet farther, we 
found a part, and still further on, the remainder of the body 
of the unfortunate man, who ignorantly had been the cause 
of the explosion, as well as his own death. He was so com- 
pletely blackened and burnt that it would have been impos- 
sible, from his color, to have distinguished him from a 
negro." 



3 1 4 APPENDIX 

Note to Greenwood Cemetery. — To the untiring exertions of 
Major D. B. Douglass, Messrs. Joseph A. Perry, Henry E. 
Pierrepont, Gerrit G. Van Wagenen, and a few other liberal 
minded gentlemen, the public are indebted for the design 
and completion of this beautiful place of repose for the dead. 



Night Attack on Fort Erie. — The Officer's Saber. — The 

writer saw in the possession of Major , a beautiful 

scimitar-shaped saber, with polished steel scabbard ; the 
number of the regiment, (119th, he thinks,) embossed on its 
blade, which one of the soldiers picked up and brought in 
from among the scattered arms and dead bodies in front of 
the works on the following morning. The white leathern 
belt was cut in two, probably by a grape-shot or musket ball, 
and saturated with blood. Whether its unfortunate owner 
was killed, or wounded only, of course could not be known. 
It was a mute and interesting witness of that night's carnage 
and had undoubtedly belonged to some officer who had been 
in Egypt, and had relinquished the straight European saber, 
for this favorite weapon of the Mameluke. 



Night Attack on Fort Erie, and Battle of Lundys Lane. — 
These two articles elicited the following reply from the pen 
of an officer of the U. S. army, since dead. The authenticity 
of the statement can be relied upon, as the documents from 
whence it was derived were the papers of Major-General 
Brown, and other high officers engaged in the campaign. 
It is proper to observe, that in the rambling sketch of a tour- 
ist, where a mere cursory description was all that was aimed 



APPENDIX 3 I 5 

at, the apparent injustice done to that gallant officer and 
eminently skillful soldier, Major-General Brown (who cer- 
tainly ought to have been placed more prominently in the 
foreground), was entirely unintentional. 

****(. Deeming that a ' local habitation and a 
name ' may be affixed to my friend the ' Major,' and that he 
may be considered responsible for inaccuracies, if any, for 
which others alone are accountable, I hasten to say, that in 
the description of the battle of Lundy's Lane (with the ex- 
ception of some of the personal anecdotes), the title is re- 
tained merely as a nom de guerre to carry the reader through 
the different phases of the action. The description of the 
night attack on Fort Erie, as well as that of the character 
and personal appearance of Lieutenant-Colonel Wood, is, 
however, almost literally that given at the fireside of my 
friend. The information received at the British camp on 
the following morning, through a flag, was, as near as could 
be ascertained, that Colonel Wood had been bayoneted to 
death on the ground. The account of the battle at Lundy's 
Lane was compiled from one of the earlier editions of Breck- 
enridge's History of the Late War (I think the third), the 
only written authority that I had upon the subject, and from 
conclusions drawn from rambles and casual conversations 
on the battle-ground. In how far a rough sketch, which 
was all that was aimed at, has been conveyed from that 
authority, the reader, as well as your correspondent, can 
best determine by referring to the history alluded to." P. 
269-70. 

'^ * * * "The enemy's artillery occupied a hill which 
was the key to the whole position, and it would be in vain 
to hope for victory while they were permitted to retain it. 



3l6 APPENDIX 

Addressing himself to Colonel Miller, he inquired whether 
he could storm the batteries at the head of the Twenty- 
first, while he would himself support him with the younger 
regiment, the Twenty-third. To this the wary, but in- 
trepid, veteran replied in an unaffected phrase, ' I'll try, 
sir;' * words which were afterwards given as the motto of 
his regiment. 

* * -x- * « jj^g Twenty-third was formed in close 
column under its commander, Major McFarland, and the 
First regiment under Colonel Nicholas, was left to keep the 
infantry in check. The two regiments moved on to one of 
the most perilous charges ever attempted ; the whole of the 
artillery opened upon them as they advanced, supported by 
a powerful line of infantry. The Twenty-first advanced 
steadily to its purpose ; the Twenty-third faltered on re- 
ceiving the deadly fire of the enemy, but was soon rallied by 
the personal exertions of General Ripley. When within a 
hundred yards of the summit, they received another dread- 
ful discharge, by which Major McFarland was killed, and 
the command devolved on Major Brooks. To the amaze- 
ment of the British, the intrepid Miller firmly advanced, 
until within a few paces of their line, when he impetuously 
charged upon the artillery, which, after a short but desper- 
ate resistance, yielded their whole battery, and the American 
line was in a moment formed in the rear upon the ground 
previously occupied by the British infantry. In carrying 
the larger pieces, the Twenty-first suffered severely ; Lieu- 
tenant Cilley, after an unexampled effort, fell wounded by 
the side of the piece which he took ; there were but few of 

* The Twenty-first carried the celebrated ' 77/ /;j. Sir,' inscribed 
upon their buttons during the remainder of the war. 



APPEXDIX 3 I 7 

the officers of this regiment who were not either killed or 
wounded. 

" So far as 1 can recollect, the personal narrative of my 
friend was as follows : Miller, quietly surveying the battery, 
coolly replied, ' I'll try, sir ; ' then, turning to his regiment, 
drilled to beautiful precision, said, ' Attention, Twenty-first.* 
He directed them as they rushed up the hill, to deliver their 
fire at the port-lights of the artillerymen, and to immediately 
carry the guns at the point of the bayonet. In a very short 
time they moved on to the charge, delivered their fire as 
directed, and after a furious struggle of a few muments over 
the cannon, the battery was in their possession. 

■" * * ■" *' To show with what secresy the arrangements 
were made for the sortie of Fort Erie, it is believed that the 
enemy was in utter ignorance of the movement. To confirm 
him in error, a succession of trusty spies were sent to him in 
the character of deserters, up to the close of the day of the 
i6th ; and so little did the army know of what were General 
Brown's plans for that day, that even if an officer had gone 
over to the enemy, the information he could have given must 
have been favorable to the meditated enterprise, as no one 
had been consulted but General Porter, and the engineers, 
Colonels McRae and Wood. 

"At nine o'clock on the evening of the i6th, thegeneral- 
in-chief called his assistant adjutant-general. Major Jones, 
and after explaining concisely his object, ordered him to see 
the officers whom the General named, and direct them to 
his tent. The officers General Brown had selected to have 
the honor of leading commands on the 17th, came; he ex- 
plained to them his views and determinations, and enjoyed 
much satisfaction at seeing: that his confidcnee had not been 



3 I 6 APPENDIX 

misplaced. They left him to prepare for the duty assigned 
to them on the succeeding day. At twelve o'clock the last 
agent was sent to the enemy in the character of a deserter, 
and aided, by disclosing all he knew, to confirm him in 
security. 

" The letter, of which the following is an extract, was 
written by General Brown to the Department of War early 
in the morning of the 25th July, 1814 : 

" 'As General Gaines informed me that the Commodore 
was in port, and as he did not know when the fleet would 
sail, or when the guns and troops that 1 had been expecting 
would even leave Sackett's Harbor, 1 have thought it proper 
to change my position with a view to other objects.' 

" General Scott, with the first brigade, Towson's artillery, 
all the dragoons and mounted men, was accordingly put in 
march towards Queenston. He was particularly instructed 
to report if the enemy appeared, and to call for assistance if 
that was necessary. Having command of the dragoons, he 
would have, it was supposed, the means of intelligence. On 
General Scott's arrival near the Falls, he learned that the 
enemy was in force directly in his front, a narrow piece of 
woods alone intercepting his view of them. Waiting only 
to despach this information, but not to receive any in return, 
the General advanced upon him. 

" Hearing the report of cannon and small arms. General 
Brown at once concluded that a battle had commenced 
between the advance of his army and the enemy, and with- 
out waiting for information from General Scott, ordered the 
second brigade and all the artillery to march as rapidly as 
possible to his support, and directed Colonel Gardner to 
remain and see this order executed. He then rode with his 



APPENDIX 3 I 9 

aids-de-camp, and Major McRee, with all speed towards the 
scene of action. As he approached the Falls, ;about a mile 
from Chippeway, he met Major Jones, who had accompanied 
General Scott, bearing a message from him, advising General 
Brown that he had met the enemy. From the information 
given by Major Jones, it was concluded to order up General 
Porter's command, and Major Jones was sent with this 
order. Advancing a little further General Brown met 
Major Wood, of the engineers, who also had accompanied 
General Scott. He reported that the conflict between Gen- 
eral Scott and the enemy was close and desperate, and urged 
that reinforcements should be hurried forward. The rein- 
forcements were now marching with all possible rapidit}'. 
The Major-General was accompanied by Major Wood to the 
field of battle. Upon his arrival, he found that General 
Scott had passed the wood, and engaged the enemy upon 
the Oueenston road and the ground to the left of it, with the 
9th, I ith and 22d regiments, and To wson's artillery. The 25th 
had been detached to the right, to be governed by circum- 
stances. Apprehending these troops to be much exhausted, 
notwithstanding the good front they showed, and know- 
ing that they had suffered severely in the contest. General 
Brown determined to form and interpose a new line with 
the advancing troops, and thus disengage General Scott, and 
hold his brigade in reserve. By this time Captains Biddle 
and Ritchie's companies of artillery had come into action. 
The head of General Ripley's column was nearly up with 
the right of General Scott's line. At this moment the enemy 
fell back, in consequence, it was believed, of the arrival of 
fresh troops, which they could see and begin to feel. At the 
moment the enemy broke, General Scott's brigade gave a 



320 APPENDIX 

general huzza, that cheered the whole line. General Ripley 
was ordered to pass his line and display his column in front. 
The movement was commenced in obedience to the order. 
Majors McRee and Wood had rapidly reconnoitered the 
enemy and his position. McRee reported that he appeared 
to have taken up a new position with his line, and with his 
artillery, to have occupied a height which gave him great 
advantages, it being the key of the whole position. To 
secure the victory, it was necessary to carry this height, and 
seize his artillery. McRee was ordered by the Major-Gen- 
eral to conduct Ripley's command on the Queenston road, 
with a view to that object, and prepare the 21st regiment, 
under Colonel Miller, for the duty. 

" The second brigade immediately advanced on the 
Queenston road. General Brown, with his aids-de-camp and 
Major Wood, passing to the left of the second brigade in 
front of the first, approached the enemy's artillery, and 
observed an extended line of infantry formed for its support. 
A detachment of the first regiment of infantry, under com- 
mand of Colonel Nicolas, which arrived that day, and was 
attached to neither of the brigades, but had marched to the 
field of battle in the rear of the second, was ordered 
promptly to break off to the left, and form a line facing the 
enemy on the height, with a view of drawing his fire and 
attracting his attention, while Colonel Miller advanced with 
the bayonet upon his left flank to carry his artillery. As 
the first regiment, led by Major Wood, and commanded by 
Colonel Nicolas, approached its position, the commanding 
General rode to Colonel Miller, and ordered him to 
charge and carry the enemy's artillery with the bayonet. 
He replied in a tone of great promptness and good humor, 
It shall be done, sir.' 



APPEXDIX 



321 



"At that moment the first regiment gave way under the 
fire of the enemy ; but Colonel Miller, without regard to this 
circumstance, advanced steadily to his object, and carried 
the height and the cannon in a style rarely equaled — never 
excelled. At this point of time, when Colonel JMiller moved, 
the 23d regiment was on his right, a little in the rear. Gen- 
eral Ripley led this regiment ; it had some severe fio-htino-^ 
and in a degree gave way, but was promptly reformed, and 
brought upon the right of the 21st, with which were con- 
nected a detachment of the 17th and 19th. 

" General Ripley being now with his brigade, formed a 
line (the enemy having been driven from his commandino- 
ground), with the captured cannon, nine pieces, in the rear. 
The first regiment having been rallied, was brought into 
line by Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolas, on the left of the second 
brigade, and General Porter coming up at this time, occu- 
pied with his command the extreme left. Our artillery 
formed the right between the 21st and 23d regiments. Hav- 
ing given to Colonel Miller orders to storm the heights and 
carry the cannon as he advanced. General Brown moved 
from his right flank to the rear of his left. Major Wood and 
Captain Spencer met him on the Oueenston road ; turning 
down that road, he passed directly in the rear of the 23d, 
as they advanced to the support of Col. Miller. The shouts 
of the American soldiers on the heights, at this moment, as- 
sured him of Col. Miller's success, and he hastened towards 
the place, designing to turn from the Queenston road 
towards the heights up Lundy's Lane. In the act of doing 
so, Maj. Wood and Capt. Spencer, who were about a horse's 
length before him, were near riding upon a bod}- of the 
enemy; and nothing prevented them from doing it but an 



322 



APPENDIX 



officer exclaiming before them, 'They are the Yankees.' 
The exclamation halted the three American officers, and 
upon looking down the road they saw a line of British 
infantry drawn up in front of the western fence of the road, 
with its right resting upon Lundy's Lane. 

" The British officer had, at the moment he gave this 
alarm, discovered Maj. Jesup. The Major had, as before 
observed, at the commencement of the action, been ordered 
by Gen. Scott to take ground to his right. 

" He had succeeded in turning the enemy's left, had cap- 
tured Gen. Riall and several other officers, and sent them to 
camp, and then, feeling and searching his way silently 
towards where the battle was raging, had brought his regi- 
ment, the 25th, after a little comparative loss, up to the 
eastern fence at the Queenston road, a little to the north of 
Lundy's Lane. The moment the British gave Jesup notice 
of having discovered him, Jesup ordered his command to 
fire upon the enemy's line. The lines could not have been 
more than four rods apart — Jesup behind the south fence, 
the British in front of the north. The slaughter was dread- 
ful ; the enemy fled down the Queenston road at the third 
or fourth fire. As the firing ceased, the Major-General 
approached Major Jesup, advised him that Col. Miller had 
carried the enemy's artillery, and received information of 
the capture of Gen. Riall. 

" The enemy having rallied his broken forces and re- 
ceived reinforcements, was now discovered in good order 
and in great force. The commanding General, doubting 
the correctness of the information, and to ascertain the 
truth, passed in person with his suite in front of our line. 
He could no longer doubt, as a more extended line than he 



I 



APPENDIX 323 

had 3'et seen during the engagement was near, and ad- 
vancing upon us. Capt. Spencer, without saying a word, 
put spurs to his horse, and rode directly up to the ad- 
vancing line, then, turning towards the enem)''s right, 
inquired in a strong and firm voice, ' What regiment is that?' 
and was as promptly answered, 'The Royal Scots, Sir.' 

" General Brown and suite then threw themselves behind 
our troops without loss of time, and waited the attack. The 
enemy advanced slowly and firmly upon us: perfect silence 
was observed throughout both armies until the lines ap- 
proached to within four to six rods. Our troops had 
leveled their pieces and the artillery was prepared : the 
order to fire was given. Most awful was its effect. The 
lines closed in part before the enemy was broken. He then 
retired precipitately, the American army following him. 
The field was covered with the slain, but not an enemy 
capable of marching was to be seen. We dressed our men 
upon the ground we occupied. Gen. Brown was not dis- 
posed to leave it in the dark, knowing it was the best in the 
neighborhood. His intention, then, was to maintain it until 
day should dawn, and to be governed by circumstances. 

" Our gallant and accomplished foe did not give us much 
time for deliberation. He showed himself within twenty 
minutes, apparently undismayed and in good order." 

Extract of a private letter from the writer of the above 
article, dated January 15, 1841. * * -• ^ 

"As to the fate of the gallant and accomplished Wood. — 
You supposed a flag from the enemy reported he had been 
bayoneted to death on the ground ; like enough, but how 
did the enemy recognize his body ? Gen. Porter thinks he 
fell at the close of the action at Battery No. i, but I never 



324 



APPENDIX 



heard that any one saw him fall. His body never was 
recovered. Those of Gibson and Davis, the leaders of the 
two other columns in Gen. Porter's command, were. 

" Soon after the war, McRee, one of the best military 
engineers this country ever produced, threw up his commis- 
sion in disgust and died of the cholera at St. Louis. 

" From the time I lost sight of Gen. Scott in my narrative 
until after the change referred to at the end of the narrative, 
Gen. Scott with three of his battalions had been held in re- 
serve. The commander-in-chief now rode in person to Gen. 
Scott, and ordered him to advance. That officer was pre- 
pared and expected the call. As Scott advanced toward 
Ripley's left. Gen. Brown passed to the left to speak with 
Gen. Porter and see the condition and countenance of his 
militia, who, at that moment, were thrown into some con- 
fusion under a most gaUing and deadly fire from the enemy: 
they were, however, kept to their duty by the exertions of 
their gallant chiefs, and most nobly sustained the conflict. 
The enemy was repulsed and again driven out of sight. 
But a short time, however, had elapsed, when he was once 
more distinctly seen, in great force, advancing upon our 
main line under the command of Ripley and Porter. The 
direction that Scott had given his column Avould have 
enabled him in five minutes to have formed a line in the rear 
of the enemy's right, and thus have brought him between 
two fires. But in a moment most unexpected, a ffank fire 
from a party of the enemy, concealed upon our left, falling 
upon the centre of Scott's command, when in open column, 
blasted our proud expectations. His column was severed 
in two ; one part passing to the rear, the other by the right 
tiank of platoons toward the main line. About this period 



APPENDIX 325 

Gen. Brown received his first wound, a musket-ball passin^,^ 
through Ills right thigh and carrying azvay his ivatch seal, 
a few minutes after Capt. Spencer received his mortal 
wound. ■" * "■ ■" 

"This was the last desperate effort made by the enemy 
to regain his position and artillery. * * * "" 

" Porter's volunteers were not excelled by the regulars 
during this charge. They were soon precipitated by their 
heroic commander upon the enemy's line, which they broke 
and dispersed, making many prisoners. The enemy now 
seemed to be effectually routed ; they disappeared. * * * '•• 

"At the commencement of the action, Col. Jesup was de- 
tached to the left of the enemy, with the discretionary order, 
to be governed by circumstances. The commander of the 
British forces had committed a fault by leaving a road 
unguarded on his left. Col. Jesup, taking advantage of this, 
threw himself promptly into the rear of the enemy, wdiere 
he was enabled to operate with brilliant enterprise, and the 
happiest effect. The capture of Gen. Riall, with a large 
escort of officers of rank, was part of the trophies of his 
intrepidit}^ and skill. It is not, we venture to assert, bestow- 
ing on him too much praise to say, that to his achievements, 
more than to those of any other individual, is to be attributed 
the preservation of the first brigade from utter annihilation. 

"Among the officers captured by Col. Jesup, was Capt. 
Loring, one of General Drummond's aids-de-camp, who had 
been despached from the front line to order up the reserve, 
with a view to fall on Scott with the concentrated force of 
the whole army and overwhelm him at a single effort. Nor 
would it have been possible to prevent this catastrophe, had 
the reserve arrived in time; the force with which General 



326 APPENDIX 

Scott would have been obliged to contend being nearly 
quadruple that of his own. By the fortunate capture, how- 
ever, of the British aid-de-camp, before the completion of 
the service on which he had been ordered, the enemy's 
reserve was not brought into action until the arrival of 
Gen. Ripley's brigade, which prevented the disaster that 
must otherwise have ensued, and achieved, in the end, one 
of the most honorable victories that ever shed lustre upon 
the arms of a nation. * * -5^ * " 



Note to Liindys Lane. — Rainbow of the Cataract. — 
The afternoon of the action presented one of those delicious 
summer scenes in which all nature appears to be breathing 
in harmony and beauty. As General Scott's brigade came 
in view, and halted in the vicinity of the cataracts, the mist 
rising from the falls was thrown in upon the land, arching 
the American force with a vivid and gorgeous rainbow, the 
left resting on the cataract, and the right lost in the forest. 
Its brilliance and beauty was such, that it excited not only 
the enthusiasm of the officers, but even the camp followers 
were filled with admiration. 



Note to Liindys Lane. — The day after the battle. — " I 
rode to the battle-ground about day-light on the following 
morning without witnessing the presence of a single British 
officer or soldier. The dead had not been removed through 
the night, and such a scene of carnage I never before be- 
held. Red coats, blue and gray, promiscuously intermingled, 
in many places three deep, and around the hill, where the en- 
emy's artillery was carried by Colonel Miller, the carcasses 



. / PPENDIX 327 

of sixty or seventy horses added to the horror of the scene." 
— Private letter of an Officer. 

The dead were collected and burnt in funeral piles made 
of rails, on the field where they had fallen. 



Note to Lundys Lane- — TilE TWO SERGEANTS. — For sev- 
eral days after the action, the country people found the 
bodies of soldiers who had straggled off into the woods, and 
died of their wounds. At some distance from the field of 
battle, and entirely alone, were found the bodies of two 
sergeants, American and English, transfixed by each other's 
bayonets, lying across each other, where they had fallen in 
deadly duel. It is rare that individual combat takes place 
under such circumstances in the absence of spectators to 
cheer on the combatants by their approval, and this incident 
conveys some idea of the desperation which characterized 
the general contest on that night. Yet in this lonely and 
brief tragedy, these two men were enacting parts, which to 
them were as momentous as the furious conflict of the masses 
in the distance. 



Note to Lundys Lane. — Death of Captain Hull. — Cap- 
tain Hull, son of General Hull, whose unfortunate surrender 
at Detroit created so much odium, fell in this battle. He 
led his men into the midst of the heaviest fire of the enemy, 
and after they were almost, if not all, destroyed, plunged 
sword in hand into the center of the British column, fighting 
with the utmost desperation, until he was literally impaled 
upon their bayonets. 

In the pocket of this gallant and generous young officer, 



328 APPENDIX 

was found a letter, avowing his determination to signalize 
the name or to fall in the attempt. 



Note to Lundys Lane. — Scott's Brigade. — Part of Gen. 
Scott's command were dressed in gray (probably the fatigue 
dress), at the battle of Chippewa. An English company 
officer relates that : " Advancing at the head of my men, I 
saw a body of Americans drawn up, dressed in gray uniform. 
Supposing them to be militia, I directed my men to fire, and 
immediately charge bayonet. What was my surprise to 
find, as the smoke of our fire lifted from the ground, that, 
instead of flying in consternation from our destructive dis- 
charge, the supposed militia were coming down upon 71s at 
' double quick ' — at the charge. In two minutes I stood 
alone, my men having given way without waiting to meet 
the shock." 



Note to Limdys Lane. — Death of Capt. Spencer. — Capt. 
Spencer, aid-de-camp to Maj. Gen. Brown, a son of the Hon. 
Ambrose Spencer, was only eighteen years of age at the 
time he closed his brief career. He was directed by Gen. 
Brown to carry an order to another part of the field, and, to 
avoid a more circuitous route, he chivalrously galloped down, 
exposed to the heavy fire in the front of the line, eliciting the 
admiration of both armies, but, before he reached the point 
of his destination, two balls passed through his body and he 
rolled from his saddle. 

The following letter to Gen. Armstrong, Secretary of 
War, will show in what estimation he was held by Gen. 
Brown : — 



APPEXDIX 329 

Copy of a letter from Major Gen. Brown, to Gen. Arm- 
strong, Secretary of War. 

" Headquarters, Fort Erie, 
20th September, 1814. 

"Sir: — Among the officers lost to this army in the battle 
of Niagara Falls, was my aid-dc-camp. Captain Ambrose 
Spencer, who, being mortally wounded, was obliged to be 
left in the hands of the enemy. By flags from the British 
army, I was shortly afterwards assured of his convalescence, 
and an offer was made me by Lieutenant General Drummond, 
to exchange him for his own aid, Captain Loring, then a 
prisoner of war with us. However singular this proposition 
appeared, as Captain Loring was not wounded, nor had re- 
ceived the slightest injury, I was willing to comply with it 
on Captain Spencer's account. But as I knew his wounds 
were severe, I first sent to ascertain the fact of his being 
then living. My messenger, with a flag, was detained, nor 
even once permitted to see Captain Spencer, though in his 
immediate vicinit}'. 

" The evidence I wished to acquire failed ; but my regard 
for Captain Spencer would not permit me longer to delay, 
and I informed General Drummond that his aid should be 
exchanged even for the body of mine. This offer was, no 
doubt, gladly accepted, and the corpse of Captain Spencer 
sent to the American shore." 



Note to Lake George and Ticonderoga. — This impor- 
tant position, situated on Lake Champlain near the foot of 
the Horicon (called by the English Lake George, and by the 
French St. Sacrament), was first fortified by the French, and 
was the point from which they made so many incursions, in 



330 APPENDIX 

conjunction with the Indians, upon the English settlements. 
Lord Abercrombie led an army of nearly 16,000 men 
against it in the year 1658, but was defeated with a loss of 
2,000 men, and one of his most distinguished officers. Lord 
Howe, who fell at the head of one of the advance columns. 
In the following year it surrendered to General Amherst, 
who led a force of nearly equal number against it. Its sur- 
prise and capture by Ethan Allen, at the commencement of 
our revolution, is, we presume, familiar to every American, 
as also the fact of Burgoyne's getting heavy cannon upon 
the neig^hboringf mountain, which had heretofore been con- 
sidered impracticable, and from which the works were en- 
tirely commanded. The necessary withdrawal of the army 
by St. Clair, after blowing up the works, is as related in the 
text. 



Note to Bass FisJdng. — Crew of the Essex Frigate.— 
In the bloody and heroic defence of the* Essex, in which, out 
of a crew of two hundred and fifty-five men, one hundred 
and fifty-three were killed and wounded ! a number of 
instances of individual daring and devotion are recorded of 
the common sailors. Besides the act of Ripley, which is 
mentioned in the text, one man received a cannon ball 
through his body, and exclaimed, in the agonies of death, 
" Never mind, shipmates, I die for free trade and sailors' 
rights." Another expired inciting his shipmates to " fight 
for liberty ! " and another, Benjamin Hazen, having dressed 
himself in a clean shirt and jacket, threw himself overboard, 
declaring that " he would never be incarcerated in an 
English prison." An old man-of-war's-man, who was in her. 



APPENDIX 331 

informed the writer that her sides were so decayed by 
exposure to the climate in which she had been cruising, that 
the dust flew like smoke from every shot that came through 
the bulwarks, and that at the close of the action, when the 
Essex was lying perfectly helpless, a target for the two 
heavy British ships, riddled by every ball from their long 
guns, without the ability to return a single shot, he was near 
the quarter-deck and heard Commodore Porter, walking up 
and down with hurried steps, repeatedly strike his breast 
and exclaim, in great apparent agony, " My Heaven ! is 
there no shot for me?" 



Note to Bass Fishing. — MUTINY ON BoARD THE ESSEX 
Frigate. — While the Essex was lying at the Marquesas 
Islands, recruiting and refreshing her crew from one of the 
long and arduous cruises in the Pacific, Commodore Porter 
was informed, through a servant of one of the officers, that a 
mutiny had been planned and was on the eve of consumma- 
tion. That it was the intention of the mutineers to rise 
upon the officers, take possession of the ship, and, after hav- 
ing remained as long as they found agreeable at the island, 
to hoist the black flag and "cruise on their own account." 
Having satisfied himself of the truth of the information. 
Commodore Porter ascended to the quarter-deck, and or- 
dered all the crew to be summoned aft. Waiting till the 
last man had come from below, he informed them that he 
understood that a mutiny was on foot, and that he had 
summoned them for the purpose of inquiring into its truth. 
•• Those men who are in favor of standing by the ship and 
her officers," said the commodore, "will go over to the 



332 APPENDIX 

starboard side ; those who are against them will remain 
where they are." The crew, to a man, moved over to the 
starboard side. The ship was still as the grave. Fixing his 
eyes on them steadily and sternly for a few moments, the 
commodore said, " Robert White, step out." The man 
obeyed, standing pale and agitated, guilt stamped on every 
lineament of his countenance, in front of his comrades. The 
commodore looked at him a moment, then seizing a cutlass 
from the nearest rack, said, in a suppressed voice, but in 
tones so deep that they rung like a knell upon the ears of 
the guilt}' among the crew, " Villain ! you are the ringleader 
of this mutiny — jump overboard ! " The man dropped on his 
keees, imploring for mercy, saying that he could not swim. 
"Then drown, you scoundrel !" said the commodore, springing 
towards him to cut him down — "overboard instantly!" and 
the man jumped over the side of the ship. He then turned 
to the trembling crew, and addressed them with much feel- 
ing, the tears standing upon his bronzed cheek as he spoke. 
He asked them what he had done, that his ship should be 
disgraced by a mutiny. He asked whether he had ever dis- 
honored the flag, whether he had ever treated them with 
other than kindness, whether they had ever been wanting 
for anything to their comfort, that discipline and rules of 
the service would allow, and which it was in his power to 
give. At the close of his address he said : " Men ! before I 
came on deck, I laid a train to the magazine, and I would 
have blown all on board into eternity, before my ship should 
have been disgraced by a successful mutiny ; I never would 
have survived the dishonor of my ship; go to your duty.' 
The men were much affected by the commodore's address, 
and immediately returned to their duty, showing every sign 



APPENDIX 



1 ') -7 

00v5 



of contrition. They were a good crew, but had been se- 
duced by the allurements of the islands, and the plausible 
representations of a villain. That they did their duty to the 
flag, it is only necessary to say, the same crew fought the 
ship afterwards against the Phebe and Cherub, in the harbor 
of Valparaiso, where, though the American flag descended, 
it descended in a blaze of glory which will long shine on the 
pages of history. But mark the sequel of this mutiny, and 
let those who, in the calm security of their fire-sides, are so 
severe upon the course of conduct pursued by officers in 
such critical situations, see how much innocent blood would 
have been saved, if White had been cut down instantly, or 
hung at the yard-arm. As he went overboard he succeeded 
in reaching a canoe floating at a little distance and paddled 
ashore. Some few months afterwards, when Lieutenant 
Gamble of the Marines was at the islands, in charge of one 
of the large prizes, short-handed, in distress, this same White, 
at the head of a party of natives, attacked the ship, killed 
two of the officers and a number of the men, and it was with 
great difficulty that she was prevented from falling into their 
hands. The blood of those innocent men, and the lives of 
two meritorious officers, would have been spared, if the 
wretch had been put to instant death, as was the commo- 
dore's intention. It will be recollected that the Essex, in 
getting under way, out of the harbor of Valparaiso, carried 
away her foretopmast in a squall, and being thus unmanage- 
able, came to anchor in the supposed protection of a neutral 
port; nevertheless the Phebe, frigate, and Cherub, sloop-of- 
war, attacked her in this position, the former with her long 
guns selecting her distance, cutting her up at her leisure, 
while the Essex, armed onlv with carronades. lay j)erfectlv 



334 APPENDIX 

helpless, her shot falling short of the Phebe, although they 
reached the Cherub, which was forced to get out of their 
range. " I was standing," said my informant, then a mid- 
shipman only fourteen years old, " I was standing at the side 
of one of our bow-chasers (the only long guns we had), which 
we had run aft out of the stern-port, when the Phebe bore up, 
and ran under our stern to rake us. As she came within 
half-pistol shot (!) she gave us her whole broadside at the 
same instant. I recollect it well," said the officer, " for as I 
saw the flash, I involuntarily closed my eyes, expecting that 
she would have blown us out of the water, and she certainly 
would have sunk us on the spot, but, firing too high, her 
shot cut our masts and rigging all to pieces, doing little in- 
jury to the hull. Singular as it may seem, the discharge of 
our one gun caused more slaughter than the whole of their 
broadside, for while we had but one man wounded, the shot 
from our gun killed two of the men at the wheel of the 
Phebe, and glancing with a deep gouge on the main-mast, 
mortally wounded her first Lieutenant, who died on the fol- 
lowing day. 



Long Island Sound. — New England Traditions. — There 
are few countries where traditions and legends are handed 
down from generation to generation with more fidelity than 
in New England, more particularly along the sea-coast and 
the shores of the Sound. The " fire ship" was supposed by 
the old fishermen to be seen cruising occasionally in the vicin- 
ity of Block Island in the furious storms of thunder and light- 
ning. The tradition was that she was taken by pirates, all 
hands murdered, and abandoned after being set on fire by 



APPENDIX 335 

the buccaneers. Some accounts stated that a large white 
horse, which was on board, was left near the foremast to 
perish in the fiames, and in storms of peculiarly terrific vio- 
lence that she was seen rushing along enveloped in fire, the 
horse stamping and pawing at the heel of the foremast, her 
phantom crew assembled at quarters. In the early part of 
the last century, a ship came ashore a few miles beyond 
Newport, on one of the beaches, all sails set, the table pre- 
pared for dinner, but the food untouched, and no living 
thing on board of her. It was never ascertained what had 
become of her crew, but it was supposed that she had been 
abandoned in some moment of alarm, and that they all per- 
ished, although the vessel arrived in safety. 

The phantom horse will recall to mind a real incident, 
which occurred not long since in the conflagration of one 
of the large steamboats on Lake Erie. A fine race-horse 
was on board, and secured, as is usual, forward. Of course 
his safety was not looked to, while all were making vain 
efforts to save themselves from their horrible fate. As the 
flames came near him he succeeded in tearing himself loose 
from his fastenings, rushing frantically through the fire and 
smoke fore and aft, trampling down the unfortunate victims 
that were in his way, adding still more horror to a scene 
which imagination can hardly realize, until, frenzied with 
the pain and agony of the fire, he plunged overboard and 
perished. 

But the favorite and most cherished traditions are those 
relating to hidden treasure. The writer w^ell recollects one 
to which his attention was attracted in his childhood. Mr. 

, inhabiting one of those fine old mansions in Newport, 

which had been built fifty years before, by an English gentle- 



•536 APPENDIX 



man of fortune, where taste and caprice had been indulged 
to the extreme, and where closets, and beaufets, and cellars, 
and pantries, appeared tc meet one at every turn, was 
engaged late one winter's night writing in his study, when 
he found it necessary to replenish his fire with fuel. The 
servants having retired, he took a candle and went himself 
to the cellar to procure it, and as he passed the vault known 
as the " wine cellar," his attention was attracted by a light 
streaming through the key-hole of the door. He stopped a 
moment and called out, supposing that some of the family 
were in the apartment — but instantly the light vanished. He 
stepped up to the door and endeavored to open it, but found 
to his surprise that it was fastened, — a thing that was unusual, 
as the door constantly stood ajar. Calling out again, " Who's 
there?" without receiving any answer, he placed his foot 
against the door, and forced it open, when a sight met his 
eyes, which for a moment chained him to the spot. In the 
center of the cellar, in a deep grave, which had been already 
dug, and leaning upon his spade, was a brawny negro, his 
shirt-sleeves rolled up to his shoulders, and the sweat trick- 
ling down his glistening black visage, while on the pile of 
earth made from the excavation stood another negro, a 
drawn sword in one hand, a lantern with the light just 
extinguished in the other, and an open bible, with two hazel 
rods across it, lying at his feet — these swarthy laborers, the 
moment that the door was thrown open, making the most 
earnest signs for silence. As soon as Mr. could com- 
mand his voice, he demanded the meaning of what he saw, 
and what they were about. They both simultaneously then 
declared that the charm was broken by his voice. One of 
the worthies, who was the groom of the family, had dreamed 



APPENDIX 



OJ 



7 



five nights in succession that old Mr. E , the builder of 

the house, had buried a boot''ul (I) of gold in that cellar, 
and, on comparing notes with hi ; brother dreamer, he found 
that his visions also pointed to treasure in the old house, 
and they had proceeded secundem artein to its attainment, 
both vehemently declaring that they intended to give part 

of the treasure to Mr. . Of course, the door being 

opened, the strange negro was required to add the darkness 
of his visage to that of night, while the groom was, on pain 
of instant dismissal, together with the threat of the ridicule 
of the whole town, directed to fill up the grave, and there- 
after to let the buried treasure sleep where its owner had 
seen fit to deposit it. 




A Mloj among Americaii Scenery: 

OK, 

SietcliGS of Aiiierlcaii Scenes and Military Adyeulnre. 



A. E. SILLIMAN. 



* * * " Mr, Silliman's 'Gallop among American Scenery' is an 
eminently readable book, consisting of sketches, historical and descriptive, 
everything dashed off with a champagne sparkle, and withal, scholarlike 
and finished. The talent for this kind of writing is as rare as the tenor 
among singers, and we are glad to hear of the existence of such a writer, 
though his light shine from the ' Vale of Mammon.' * * A'. P. IViHis." 
Bro. Jo., April i, 1843. 

* * " It is a most agreeable volume, and we commend it to the lovers 
of the champagne style in literature." * * N. V. Com. Adv., 1843 (4). 

* * " With an eye to observe the beauties of nature, and a heart to 
appreciate them; with a pen to ''gallop" as fast as the thoughts of the 
writer ; and language fluent enough to depict the quick ideas of the mind, 
Mr. Silliman has brought together a work of the most captivating character," 
* * Boston Transcript, 1843 (4). 

* * " C'est une ve'ritable course au galop que le volume de Silliman, 
etdans cette societe qui va si vite les mcilleurs livres et les plus agrcables 

styles sont ceux qui s'clancent a toute bride, ne s'embarrassant ni de philo- 
sophic, ni de beau langage. II y a dans les Esquisses de Silliman une 
peinture magnifique de la Cataracte du Niagara, pendant I'hiver ; cet 
immense palais de glace, suspendu et etincelant, ce mouvement gigantesque 
arrete dans I'air par une force magif|ue, composent un des plus etourdissans 
spectacles dont on puisse s'aviser. La touche de I'auteur amcricain est facile, 
rajiide, hazardeuse, un peu incorrecte, mais chaud n'en vaut que mieux." * * 
La Revue des Deux Alotides, Tome Septieme {15 Aout 1844), Paris. 

"A Gallop among American Scenery. By A. E. Silliman. This 
volume seems to have been rapidly written, but it displays uncommon 
qualities of style and powers of observation. * * * His sketches are 
brilliantly drawn and his stories and anecdotes well told. Unlike most 
books so miscellaneous in character, this has a spirit and life which keep up 
the reader's interest to the end ; it is drawn from fresh nature and is there- 
fore free from vague or unmeaning epithets. It is written in a hearty and 
honest tone, and we strike up a pleasant acquaintance with the author at 
once. We are amused, excited, and frequently instructed by our agreeable 
companion, and part from him with regret. * * We are particularly 
pleased with the dazzling picture of Niagara in the winter, though it is not 
done at sufficient length. * * * We take leave of our author with a 
lively sense of his descriptive powers, his gaiety and good humor, and with 
many thanks for reviving so agreeably the recollection of places made 
classical by striking events in American history, or that have grown dear to 
the heart by the gratification they have afforded to the love of the beautiful." 
North American Review, 1S43 (4), Vol. LXII, pp. 252-3. 



A. S. BARNES & CO., - NEW YORK. 



J 928 



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